To 


X** 

(OMflO/IWEALTjH 

^v 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


GIFT  OF 


COMMODORE  BYRON  MCCANDLESS 


1< 

UL44 


FROM 


STORIES   OF    THE   REVOLUTIONARY 
DAYS    IN    BOSTON 


BY 

NINA   MOORE   TIFFANY 


BOSTON,  U.S.A. 

GINN    &    COMPANY 

1897 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1890,  by 

NINA  MOCKJi  TIFFANY, 
in  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED. 


TYPOGRAPHY  BY  J.  S.  GUSHING  &  Co.,  BOSTON,  U.S.A. 


PRESSWORK  BY  GINN  &  Co.,  BOSTON,  U.S.A. 


E 


PREFACE. 


"  PILGRIMS  AND  PURITANS  "  dealt  with  the  earliest 
days  of  Massachusetts ;  "  From  Colony  to  Common- 
wealth "  takes  up  the  beginnings  of  the  Revolution. 
Children  reading  either  book  should  consult  at 
the  same  time  Higginson's  "Young  Folks'  History 
of  the  United  States"  and  Montgomery's  "Leading 
Facts  of  American  History."  Older  readers  will 
recognize,  as  the  sources  from  which  these  fireside 
tales  have  been  gathered  afresh,  "The  Memorial 
History  of  Boston,"  Frothingham's  "  Siege  of  Bos- 
ton," and  the  biographies  of  Samuel  Adams,  Joseph 
Warren,  and  James  Otis,  as  well  as  Hutchinson's 
History  of  Massachusetts  Bay  and  many  contempo- 
raneous accounts. 

NINA   MOORE   TIFFANY. 


CONTENTS. 


THE  ENGLISH  COLONIES  IN  AMERICA  i 

BOSTON  IN  1760 9 

THE  STAMP  ACT 21 

THOMAS  HUTCHINSON        .        .        .        „  •     „        .        .26 
SAMUEL  ADAMS. 

I.    The  Father  of  the  Revolution         ...  39 

II.    The  Boston  Massacre 44 

III.    Sam  Adams's  Regiments       .....  50 

THE  BOSTON  TEA-PARTY 55 

GENERAL  GAGE. 

I.    The  Port  Bill  and  the  Regulation  Acts    ...  67 

II.    Gage's  Scouts  in  Worcester  and  Concord       .         .  71 

JOSEPH  WARREN       ........  84 

THE  BATTLE  OF  LEXINGTON. 

I.   Paul  Revere's  Ride 91 

II.    The  March  of  the  British 101 

III.  The  Skirmish  at  Lexington     .         .         .         .         .103 

IV,  The  Concord  Fight 105 

V.   The  Retreat  of  the  British  1 1 1 


VI  CONTENTS. 

THE  BATTLE  OF  BUNKER  HILL.  PAGE 

I.    The  Army  at  Cambridge         .         .         .         „         .     115 
II.    The  Fortification  of  Breed's  Hill     .         .         .         .119 

WASHINGTON * .'     •        -132 

THE  EVACUATION  OF  BOSTON 145 

NOTES „        .        .     155 

INDEX        ..........     179 


MAPS   AND    ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

MAP  OF  OLD  BOSTON Frontispiece. 

MAP  OF  FIRST  SETTLEMENTS 3 

NEW  AMSTERDAM  —  NOW  NEW  YORK       ....  5 

THE  PROVINCE  HOUSE n 

GEORGE  III.              17 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN 23 

A  STAMP 25 

THOMAS  HUTCHINSON 27 

LIBERTY  TREE  .        . 31 

SAMUEL  ADAMS 41 

THE  BOSTON  MASSACRE -47 

POWNELL'S  VIEW  OF  BOSTON  FROM  CASTLE  ISLAND        .  51 

THE  OLD  SOUTH 59 

THROWING  THE  TEA  OVERBOARD 63 

MAP  OF  EASTERN  MASSACHUSETTS,  SHOWING  THE  OLD 

ROADS 71 

JOSEPH  WARREN       .        .        .        .        .        .        .        -87 

MAP  OF  COUNTRY  AROUND  BOSTON  (MASSACHUSETTS)     .      91 
CHRIST  CHURCH 93 


Vlll  MAPS    AND    ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

THE  BATTLE  OF  LEXINGTON 95 

ROADS  TO  LEXINGTON 102 

LEXINGTON  COMMON  AND  MEETING-HOUSE      .        .        .104 

MAP  OF  THE  NORTH  BRIDGE 106 

CONFLICT  AT  THE  NORTH  BRIDGE 109 

GENERAL  PUTNAM 117 

THE  HILLS  OF  CHARLESTOWN 120 

MAP  OF  BOSTON  WITH  ITS  ENVIRONS  IN  1775  AND  1776   .  121 

PLAN  OF  THE  REDOUBT 124 

PLAN  OF  CHARLESTOWN 127 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON 133 

WASHINGTON  ELM    .        .        .        .        .        .        .        -139 

THE  CRAIGIE  HOUSE 143 

MAP  OF  BOSTON  AND  VICINITY,  SHOWING  DORCHESTER 

HEIGHTS 148 

THE  WASHINGTON  MEDAL 153 


THE     BATTLE     OF     LEXINGTON. 
FROM  A  PAINTING  BY  MR.  HENRY  SANDHAM. 


FROM  COLONY  TO  COMMONWEALTH. 


THE   ENGLISH   COLONIES   IN   AMERICA. 

WHEN  the  early  discoverers  had  proved  that 
a  vast  new  continent  lay  west  of  the  Atlan- 
tic, explorers  from  the  great  European  nations 
made  haste  to  claim  portions  of  it  for  their 
different  rulers.  English,  Spanish,  Dutch,  and 
French  voyagers  sailed  along  the  coast  and  up 
the  rivers,  and  each,  on  coming  to  a  place 
which  no  one  else  had  yet  visited  or  described, 
planted  upon  it  the  flag  of  his  own  country, 
and  set  it  down  on  his  map  as  belonging  to 
the  sovereign  whom  he  served. 

The  explorers  were  followed  by  traders,  the 
traders  by  colonists.  Spaniards  settled  Mex- 
ico, and  founded  St.  Augustine  in  Florida. 
The  French  went  northward  to  Nova  Scotia 
and  Canada.  The  Dutch  built  New  Amster- 


2  THE    ENGLISH    COLONIES    IN    AMERICA. 

dam,  which  is  now  New  York,  on  Manhattan 
Island,  and  called  their  possessions  New  Neth- 
erland ;  while  the  English  made  colonies  in 
Virginia,  at  Plymouth,  and  about  Massachu- 
setts Bay. 

The  English  colonies  prospered  best.  Those 
of  Plymouth  and  Massachusetts  Bay  united, 
in  1691,  under  the  name  of  Massachusetts. 
Massachusetts  families  spread  out  into  Con- 
necticut and  Rhode  Island.  English  settlers 
ousted  the  Dutch  from  New  Amsterdam,  and 
turned  New  Netherland  into  New  York  and 
New  Jersey.  They  also  found  foothold  in 
Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  the  Carolinas,  and 
even  in  Georgia,  which  the  Spaniards  had  ex- 
pected to  hold  for  themselves.  Then,  in  the 
French  and  Indian  War,  England  gained  pos- 
session of  Canada  and  of  all  the  land  east  of 
the  Mississippi ;  so  that  the  king  who  came  to 
the  English  throne  in  1760  had  in  his  hands, 
by  1763,  an  unbroken  front  of  Atlantic  colo- 
nies, reaching  from  Labrador  to  Florida.  That 
is,  he  thought  that  they  were  in  his  hands, 


\ 


FIRST  SETTLEMENTS. 


4  THE    ENGLISH    COLONIES    IN    AMERICA. 

and  they  might  have  been,  had  he  known  how 
to  hold  them.  But  from  the  beginning,  the 
colonists,  especially  those  of  New  England  and 
Virginia,  had  been  used  to  acting  for  them- 
selves, and  to  the  end  they  insisted  on  keeping 
control  of  their  own  affairs.  The  Puritans, 
who  had  gained  freedom  for  their  church,  had 
obtained  a  good  deal  of  freedom  in  their  gov- 
ernment as  well.  Indeed,  all  of  the  older 
colonies  were  at  first  very  much  let  alone  by 
England ;  and  in  consequence,  whenever  a 
king  of  England  undertook  to  overthrow  their 
customs  or  to  meddle  with  their  charters,  they 
resisted  him  as  stoutly  as  they  were  able. 

For  more  than  fifty  years  the  Massachusetts 
men  elected  their  own  legislators,  made  their 
own  laws,  and  even  chose  their  own  governors. 
But  in  1686  Sir  Edmund  Andros  was  sent  to 
rule  over  them,  and  though  they  contrived 
to  rid  themselves  of  him,  they  were  obliged 
afterward  to  submit  to  royal  governors,  selected 
by  the  king.  This  was  a  sore  trial,  but  worse 
was  to  come ;  for  certain  people  in  authority, 


THE    ENGLISH    COLONIES    IN    AMERICA.  7 

finding  that  the  Americans  were  growing  rich, 
busied  themselves  with  schemes  for  guiding 
American  wealth  into  the  English  treasury. 

There  had  long  been  duties  laid  by  England 
on  articles  brought  to  the  provinces  from 
foreign  ports.  Each  gallon  of  molasses,  for 
instance,  carried  to  Massachusetts  from  the 
French  West  India  islands,  was  supposed  to 
have  a  small  sum,  or  duty,  paid  for  it  upon  its 
entrance  at  Boston.  This  duty  was  to  be  given 
into  the  hands  of  the  English  Qrovernment.  But 

O  O 

the  colonists  had  long  been  permitted  to  evade 
the  law,  and  in  reality  the  duties  had  seldom 
been  paid.  Vessels  had  a  way  of  slipping  in 
under  cover  of  the  darkness ;  their  cargoes 
were  landed  at  some  obscure  point,  and  hidden 
away  in  roomy  cellars.  The  collectors  of  cus- 
toms could  not  or  would  not  discover  the  smug- 
glers, and  so  did  not  deliver  to  the  king  the 
moneys  which  he  expected  from  them. 

The  royal  governors,  therefore,  were  ordered 
to  make  their  collectors  more  vigilant;  and  in 
1760  the  officials  were  furnished  with  papers 


8  THE    ENGLISH    COLONIES    IN   AMERICA. 

called  writs  of  assistance,  —  warrants  which 
gave  the  officers  power  to  enter  private  houses, 
whenever  they  saw  fit,  to  search  for  smuggled 
goods. 

James  Otis,  a  Boston  lawyer,  spoke  out  fear- 
lessly against  these  writs ;  but  instead  of  re- 
moving the  grievance,  the  English  government 
went  on  adding  other  oppressive  measures, 
until  there  came  to  be  a  feeling  among  the 
colonists  that  they  were  being  deprived  of  their 
British  liberty.  A  great  struggle  began  in  all 
the  colonies,  —  a  struggle  to  keep  their  ancient 
rights  and  privileges.  This  struggle  was  hot- 
test at  first  in  Massachusetts,  and  centred 
about  Boston. 


BOSTON   IN    1760. 

BOSTON  was  a  queer  little,  dear  little  town. 
Its  crooked  streets  went  winding  about  its 
hills  in  easy  curves  found  out  by  the  cows  and 
cowherds ;  its  harbor  was  alive  with  skimming 
sails ;  its  wharves  were  busy  with  arriving  and 
departing  ships. 

Trace  upon  the  old-time  map  the  ups  and 
downs,  the  ins  and  outs,  of  the  Boston  thor- 
oughfares as  they  were  little  more  than  a  cen- 
tury ago.  The  Treamount  stood  untouched. 
Nowadays  we  see  only  what  pick  and  shovel 
have  spared  of  Beacon  Hill;  but. in  1760  the 
three  peaks,  Beacon,  West,  and  Cotton,  rose 
distinct.  A  few  houses  had  been  built  on  the 
hill-slopes,  but  the  most  crowded  neighbor- 
hoods were  on  the  level  grounds,  near  the 
water. 

Winthrop's  house  was  still  standing,  though 

9 


IO  BOSTON    IN     1760. 

a  church,  our  Old  South,  had  been  built  on  his 
garden-plot.  C,  on  the  map,  near  the  picture 
of  a  church,  shows  the  Old  South. 

Another  building,  the  Town  House,  stood 
in  the  former  market-place,  at  a.  In  the  Town 
House,  or,  as  it  is  often  called,  the  Old  State 
House,  the  governor  and  council  and  the 
representatives  held  their  sessions. 

Almost  opposite  the  Town  House,  at  A,  was 
the  meeting-house  of  the  First  Church,  to 
which  Governor  Winthrop  had  belonged ;  and 
west  of  the  meeting-house,  at  E,  was  King's 
Chapel,  where  the  services  of  the  Church  of 
England  were  performed,  much  to  the  grief  of 
some  of  the  oldest  inhabitants,  who  still  hated 
the  sight  of  a  bishop,  and  could  scarcely  bear 
the  thought  of  having  any  religious  worship 
different  from  their  own  in  their  much-cher- 
ished town. 

Near  King's  Chapel  was  a  school,  e,  while 
at  3,  on  Marlboro  Street,  stood  the  governor's, 
or,  as  it  was  more  often  called,  the  Province 
House,  where  the  royal  governors  usually  lived. 


THE    PROVINCE    HOUSE. 


BOSTON    IN    1760.  13 

Beginning  at  the  Town  House  and  walking 
south,  a  visitor  in  the  old  town  would  have 
passed,  as  the  map  will  show,  the  Old  South 
Church  and  the  Province  House ;  then  gar- 
dens and  pastures,  until  the  long  street  with 
many  names,  —  that  long  street  is  Washington 
Street  now,  —  carried  him  on  through  fields 
and  marshes  to  the  narrow  strip  called  Boston 
Neck,  where  the  first  fortifications  were  built, 
in  Governor  Winthrop's  day.  Strolling  back 
over  the  same  route,  the  stranger  might  have 
stopped  at  the  corner  of  Orange  and  Essex 
streets,  to  admire  several  large  elms  of  which 
more  will  be  said  by  and  by.  Next,  turning 
down  Essex  Street,  he  might  have  found  his 
way  along  the  shore  to  Belcher's  Lane,  which 
afterward  became  Purchase  Street,  and  which 
would  have  led  him  past  Griffin's  Wharf  to 
Fort  Hill.  Skirting  the  hill,  he  would  have 
come  upon  Oliver's  Wharf  and  Oliver's  Dock, 
for  Andrew  Oliver  was  a  prosperous  citizen. 
Of  him,  also,  we  shall  hear  again. 

Perhaps  our  visitor  would  have  gone  to  the 


14  BOSTON    IN    1760. 

end  of  Long  Wharf  to  look  off  down  the  har- 
bor. If  he  found  his  way  through  Dock  Square, 
he  might  have  been  interested  in  Fore,  Back, 
and  Middle  streets.  Fore  is  North  Street 
now,  and  no  longer  fronts  the  water ;  Middle, 
which  on  our  map  runs  into  an  older  North 
Street,  is  now  Hanover ;  while  Back  Street  has 
become  part  of  Salem  Street. 

On  Salem  Street  was,  and  is,  Christ  Church, 
often  spoken  of  then  as  the  Old  North  —  it  is 
marked  M  on  the  map. 

Copp's,  or  Snow,  Hill  is  not  far  from  Christ 
Church.  Its  earliest  name  was  Windmill  Hill, 
because  of  a  windmill  that  would  not  work  in 
Watertown,  and  passed  its  days  in  idleness 
until  brought  to  Boston  and  set  up  upon  this 
breezy  summit. 

There  were  quaint  and  homely  reasons  for 
many  of  the  old  names  of  the  hills  and  streets 
and  coves.  Tremont  Street  was  so  called  for 
its  leading  toward  the  three  peaks  of  the  Trea- 
mount ;  Common  Street,  for  its  ending  in  the 
Common ;  Beacon  Street  wound  up  toward 


BOSTON    IN    1760.  15 

the  never-lighted  signal-mast;  Frog  Lane,  now 
Boylston  Street,  gave  warning  of  the  swamp. 

The  people  who  walked  in  these  straggling 
streets  had  independent  ways,  but  were,  never- 
theless, kindly  neighbors,  and  public-spirited 
ever.  The  good  of  the  community  was  still, 
as  in  Governor  Winthrop's  time,  uppermost  in 
their  minds. 

If  Governor  Winthrop,  the  founder  of  the 
town,  could  have  come  back  to  it  in  1760,  he 
might  have  been  grieved  at  finding  a  royal 
governor,  Bernard,  in  the  Province  House,  at 
seeing  other  officials  of  the  crown  busy  in  the 
Custom  House,  and  at  noting  the  extravagant 
habits,  gay  dress  and  pleasure-seeking  ways  of 
a  few  of  the  richer  families  of  the  town.  He 
could  not  have  failed,  however,  to  rejoice  in  the 
plainer  folk,  in  the  ministers,  lawyers,  doctors, 
sea-captains,  ship-builders,  master-workmen,  and 
mechanics.  He  would  have  turned  to  these 
with  confidence,  for  they  were  true  followers 
of  the  Puritans  of  old  in  their  devotion  to  the 
general  welfare,  • 


1 6  BOSTON    IN     1760. 

The  general  welfare  needed  their  devotion. 
In  October  of  the  year  1760  George  the  Third 
ascended  the  English  throne. 

News  of  all  kinds,  good  or  bad,  travelled 
slowly  then.  It  was  not  until  late  in  December 
that  Governor  Bernard  learned,  from  a  London 
captain,  of  the  death  of  the  second  King  George 
and  of  the  accession  of  the  third.  For  about 
two  months  Bernard  had  been  carrying  on  the 
affairs  of  the  province  in  the  name  of  a  dead 
king.  He  thought  at  first  that  he  must  con- 
tinue to  do  so,  for  the  captain  had  not  brought 
any  official  announcement  of  the  succession; 
but  after  waiting  in  vain  for  instructions,  Gov- 
ernor Bernard  decided  that  the  new  king  must 
be  proclaimed. 

On  the  2 Qth  of  December,  therefore,  the 
town-crier  summoned  the  people  to  the  open 
space  at  the  eastern  end  of  the  Town  House ; 
the  herald  blew  his  trumpet,  commanding  si- 
lence ;  the  governor,  in  his  robes  of  state, 
stepped  out  upon  the  balcony  and  read,  first, 
the  announcement  of  the, death,  on  the  25th  of 


GEORGE   III. 


BOSTON    IN    1760.  19 

October,  of  George  the  Second,  and  then  the 
announcement  that  the  present  king  of  Eng- 
land was  George  the  Third. 

Shouts,  loyal  as  those  uttered  in  London, 
arose  from  the  crowd.  "  Long  live  King 
George  the  Third !  "  "  Long  live  the  King !  " 

The  King  !  That  title  pleased  King  George. 
"  Be  king,  George  ;  be  king  !  "  his  mother  had 
often  said  to  him  ;  and  he  boasted  that  he 
would  be  king  indeed. 

First,  he  must  have  money  ;  and  Parliament, 
the  body  of  men  who  helped  the  king  to  gov- 
ern England,  proceeded  to  tax  the  colonies  in 
order  to  get  what  was  needed  to  re-fill  the 
treasury. 

Now  the  colonists  might  have  been  willing 
to  furnish  the  money  if  they  had  been  allowed 
to  raise  it  in  their  own  way.  They  had  helped 
England  in  a  war  against  the  French ;  they 
would  probably  have  taxed  themselves  to  pay 
their  share  of  the  debt  which  remained  to  be 
settled  when  the  war  was  over.  They  did  not 
object  to  taxing  themselves  ;  but  they  would 


2O  BOSTON    IN    1760. 

not  give  one  penny  at  the  bidding  of  Parlia- 
ment. 

Parliament,  they  said,  had  no  right  to  tax 
them.  British  subjects  had  always,  since  the 
days  of  King  John,  maintained  that  they  must 
not  be  taxed  by  any  except  the  men  whom 
they  had  chosen  to  represent  them.  The  men 
whom  the  colonists  had  chosen  to  represent 
them  did  not  go  to  England ;  they  had  never 
formed  part  of  the  Parliament ;  they  met  in 
their  own  chief  towns,  and  there  enacted  the 
laws  of  the  colonies.  They  alone  had  the  right 
to  tax  the  British  subjects  in  America. 

Still  the  king  and  Parliament  persisted  in 
their  course.  According  to  the  letter  of  the 
law,  the  king  of  England  possessed  the  power 
to  do  nearly  as  he  chose  with  his  provinces. 
King  George  meant  to  exercise  that  power  to 
the  full.  He  would  not  see  that  these  prov- 
inces in  America  \vere  too  strong  and  too 
skilled  in  taking  care  of  themselves  to  be 
treated  as  helpless  dependencies,  and  he  went 
on  from  one  act  of  folly  to  another  until  he 
had  made  a  breach  that  nobody  could  heal. 


THE   STAMP  ACT. 

IN  1763  one  of  the  members  of  Parliament, 
Lord  Bute,  proposed  that  the  American  colo- 
nists should  pay  a  tax  on  their  business  papers 
and  legal  documents.  His  plan  was  liked  by 
the  king's  friends ;  and  in  1 765  an  act  called 
the  Stamp  Act  was  passed.  It  declared  that 
on  and  after  the  ist  of  November,  every  bit  of 
writing  showing  the  sale  of  a  vessel  or  of  a 
piece  of  land,  every  bill  of  lading,  every  mar- 
riage certificate  or  agreement  of  any  kind, 
would  be  worthless  unless  it  bore  a  certain 
stamp.  The  stamps,  or  stamped  papers,  were 
to  be  bought  of  the  English  government,  and 
the  extra  money  thus  collected  was  to  be  spent 
as  that  government  thought  best. 

The  passage  of  the  Stamp  Act  filled  the 
colonists  with  dismay.  Benjamin  Franklin, 
who  was  then  in  England,  wrote,  "  The  Sun  of 


22  THE    STAMP    ACT. 

Liberty  is  set :  the  Americans  must  light  the 
lamps  of  industry  and  economy."  Those  lamps 
were  indeed  bright ;  it  was  by  their  aid  that 
the  Americans  discovered  the  path  out  of  their 
difficulties. 

When  Governor  Bernard,  in  an  address  to 
the  Massachusetts  Assembly,  said  that  Parlia- 
ment maintained  its  right  to  make  laws  for  the 
American  colonies,  the  Assembly  replied  that 
they  would  not  dispute  what  he  said,  but  that 
they  would  remind  him  that  their  charters 
gave  them  the  right  to  lay  their  own  taxes 
and  make  their  own  laws,  and  that  it  would  be 
most  disrespectful  to  Parliament  to  suppose 
that  it  would  be  so  "  despotick  "  as  to  tax  any 
subjects  without  their  consent.  They  asserted 
that  Parliament  would  soon  repeal  the  Stamp 
Act. 

What  the  Assembly  said  in  their  councils 
the  people  .repeated  in  their  homes,  on  the 
streets,  in  political  meetings,  and  in  their  patri- 
otic newspapers.  "  No  taxation  without  repre- 
sentation," was  the  general  cry.  Bands  of  men 


BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 


THE    STAMP    ACT.  25 

pledged  to  defend  the  freedom  of  the  colonists, 
and  calling  themselves  Sons  of  Liberty,  were 
formed  in  New  York,  Boston,  and  elsewhere. 
All  were  determined  that  the  Stamp  Act 
should  not  be  enforced. 


THOMAS  HUTCHINSON. 

AT  the  time  of  this  excitement  about  the 
Stamp  Act  there  was  in  Boston  a  scholarly 
man  named  Thomas  Hutchinson,  who  was 
vainly  trying  to  keep  the  peace  between  King 
George  the  Third  and  His  Majesty's  rebellious 
subjects  in  Massachusetts. 

Hutchinson  was  not  then  the  governor  of 
Massachusetts — he  was  as  yet  only  the  lieu- 
tenant-governor; but  his  influence  on  people 
and  events  was  greater  than  that  of  Governor 
Bernard  himself. 

He  was  a  Boston  man,  and  interested  in  all 
public  matters ;  yet,  Boston  man  though  he 
was,  he  was  a  Tory,  that  is,  an  adherent  of  the 
king. 

He  said  that  Parliament  had  a  perfect  right 
to  tax  the  Americans.  He  said  that  British 

subjects    in  America,  living   so   far  from    the 
36 


THOMAS    HUTCHINSON. 


THOMAS    HUTCHINSON.  29 

mother-country,  could  not  expect  to  enjoy  all 
the  privileges  claimed  by  British  subjects  at 
home.  He  thought  the  Stamp  Act  an  unwise 
measure,  and  did  what  he  could  to  prevent  it 
from  being  passed ;  but  after  the  passage  of 
the  act  he  maintained  that  the  colonists  would 
have  to  submit  to  it,  and,  for  his  part,  insisted 
on  its  being  enforced. 

The  patriots,  on  the  other  hand,  made  it 
their  business  to  show  that  it  would  never  be 
endured.  The  more  able  and  far-seeing  among 
them  consulted  and  called  a  general  congress, 
which  was  to  meet  at  New  York  and  to  decide 
on  some  plan  for  action.  The  stanch  me- 
chanics of  Boston,  most  of  whom  were  Sons  of 
Liberty,  paraded  the  town  and  made  speeches 
in  Liberty  Hall,  which  was  not  a  real  hall,  but 
the  open  space  beneath  the  large  elm  known 
as  Liberty  Tree,  on  the  corner  of  Essex  and 
Orange  streets. 

On  a  morning  in  August  the  branches  of 
Liberty  Tree  were  seen  to  be  bearing  strange 
fruit.  A  stuffed  figure  dressed  to  look  like 


30  THOMAS    HUTCHINSON. 

Andrew  Oliver,  and  a  great  boot,  which  was 
plainly  meant  to  ridicule  Lord  Bute,  dangled 
in  the  air. 

Hutchinson  ordered  the  sheriff  to  take  them 
down.  The  people  about  the  tree  forbade  the 
sheriff  to  do  anything  of  the  kind. 

All  day  the  figures  hung  there,  hooted  and 
laughed  at  by  the  crowd.  At  night-fall  the 
Sons  of  Liberty  cut  them  down.  They  placed 
them  upon  a  hand-bier  and  carried  them  in 
a  procession  through  the  streets.  Through 
Orange,  Marlboro,  and  Newbury  streets,  the 
procession  marched,  halting  finally  under  the 
arches  of  the  Town  House. 

"  Liberty,  property,  and  no  stamps  !  "  shouted 
the  people. 

The  council,  who  with  Bernard,  Hutchinson, 
and  others,  were  within,  thought  that  the 
crowd  meant  to  rush  into  the  building.  The 
Sons  of  Liberty,  however,  had  no  such  inten- 
tion. They  rested  a  moment,  gave  three  rous- 
ing cheers,  and  passed  on. 

Down   Kilby  Street  (Merchant's  Lane)  they 


THOMAS    HUTCHINSON.  33 

moved,  to  Oliver's  Dock.  Near  by  was  a  half- 
finished  building  which  some  said  was  to  be  the 
stamp-office.  This  they  pulled  to  the  ground ; 
then,  shouldering  its  beams,  they  carried  them 
to  Oliver's  house  on  Fort  Hill,  made  a  bonfire 
of  them,  and  burned  the  effigies  before  Oliver's 
eyes. 

The  Sons  of  Liberty  intended  no  violence; 
but  some  unruly  men,  following  in  their  wake, 
trampled  Oliver's  garden,  and,  breaking  into 
his  house,  destroyed  part  of  his  furniture. 

Moreover,  a  fortnight  later,  the  mob  spirit 
broke  out  among  the  worst  elements  of  the 
town.  A  drunken  rabble,  collecting  in  King 
Street,  plundered  the  wine-cellars  of  the  regis- 
trar of  the  admiralty,  opposite  the  Court  House, 
and  of  the  comptroller  of  the  customs,  on  Han- 
over Street,  and  then  rushed  to  Hutchinson's 
house,  in  Garden  Court,  to  work  further  mis- 
chief there. 

It  was  a  fine  old  house,  filled  with  pictures 
and  books,  and  containing  a  store  of  valuable 
papers,  letters,  and  manuscripts ;  for  Hutchin- 


34  THOMAS    HUTCHINSON. 

son  had  undertaken,  as  had  William  Bradford 
and  John  Winthrop  before  him,  to  write  a  his- 
tory of  the  Massachusetts  colony.  The  second 
volume  of  this  history  was  still  unprinted.  It 
lay  in  loose  sheets  in  Hutchinson's  desk. 

Hutchinson,  on  discovering  that  the  rioters 
were  coming,  sent  his  family  out  of  the  house, 
but  remained  himself  to  guard  his  possessions. 
His  eldest  daughter,  however,  had  fled  but  a 
few  steps,  when  she  was  overpowered  by  the 
thought  of  her  father  facing  the  mob  alone. 
She  could  not  bear  it,  and,  turning  back,  de- 
clared that  she  would  not  leave  the  house 
unless  he  went  with  her. 

The  mob  were  close  at  hand ;  for  her  sake 
he  yielded.  They  hastened  away,  and  in  a  few 
moments  the  crowd  burst  into  the  building. 

"  The  doors  were  immediately  split  to  pieces 
with  broadaxes,"  says  Hutchinson,  "and  away 
made  there  and  at  the  windows  for  the  entry 
of  the  mob,  which  poured  in,  and  filled,  in  an 
instant,  every  room  in  the  house.  .  .  .  They 
continued  their  possession  until  daylight,  car- 


THOMAS    HUTCHINSON.  35 

ried  away  or  cast  into  the  street  everything 
that  was  in  the  house,"  —  the  manuscript  his- 
tory was  given  to  the  winds,  and  would  have 
been  utterly  lost  had  not  some  friends  rescued 
it,  bit  by  bit,  and  given  it  back  to  him,  —  "  de- 
molished every  part  of  it,  as  far  as  lay  in  their 
power,  and  had  begun  to  break  away  the  brick 
work.  .  .  .  People  came  in  from  many  parts  of 
the  country  to  view  the  ruins  .  .  .  and  from  the 
shocking  appearance  could  not  help  express- 
ing a  disapprobation  of  such  acts  of  violence. 
Their  prejudices,  however,  were  not  abated 
against  the  Stamp  Act." 

Not  one  whit.  The  New  York  Congress 
sent  an  address  to  the  king  and  protests  to 
Parliament ;  the  colonies  united  in  opposition. 

Quantities  of  stamped  paper  and  parchment 
had  been  prepared  in  England.  All  that  was 
sent  over  was  so  well  taken  care  of  by  the 
patriots,  that  by  November  not  a  sheet  of  it 
could  be  obtained  for  use. 

On  the  ist  of  November,  tolling  bells  and 
booming  minute-guns  announced  the  day. 


36  THOMAS    HUTCHINSON. 

Flags  floated  mournfully  at  half-mast;  men 
saluted  each  other  with  the  watchword,  "  Lib- 
erty, property  and  no  stamps  !  "  Effigies  were 
again  hung  on  Liberty  Tree,  and  again  carried 
in  procession  about  the  streets.  There  was  no 
sign  that  the  prejudice  had  abated. 

Oliver  had,  long  before  this,  lost  all  desire 
to  give  out  the  hated  stamps  to  such  a  popu- 
lace, but  the  people  still  feared  that  he  might 
try  to  do  so ;  and  he  was  required  to  face  an 
assemblage  of  two  thousand  people,  under 
Liberty  Tree,  and  to  read  there  a  paper  assur- 
ing them  that  he  never  did,  and  never  would, 
act  as  stamp  distributor. 

Then  the  people  said  that,  as  the  distrib- 
utor had  resigned,  it  was  impossible  for  them 
to  obey  the  Stamp  Act,  and  they  demanded 
that  business  should  be  allowed  to  proceed  as 
before.  To  this,  however,  Hutchinson  wrould 
not  agree,  and  for  a  time  all  was  at  a  stand- 
still. Hutchinson  says,  "  Five  or  six  weeks 
passed  without  any  business  in  the  Custom 
House  or  the  courts  of  law.  No  wills  were 


THOMAS    HUTCHINSON.  37 

proved,  no  administrations  granted,  nor  any 
business  of  any  kind  transacted  where  stamped 
papers  were  requisite." 

But  such  a  state  of  affairs  could  not  con- 
tinue very  long.  Gradually  business  was  re- 
sumed. In  January  the  council  promised  that 
the  courts  should  be  re-opened ;  and  at  last  Par- 
liament, finding  that  the  resistance  in  America 
was  so  great,  repealed  the  Stamp  Act,  to  the 
great  rejoicing  of  the  colonists  and  of  many 
people  in  England  as  well. 

Boston  celebrated  the  repeal  with  bells, 
cannon,  illuminations,  and  fireworks.  Liberty 
Tree,  which  now  bore  a  copper  plate  with 
"The  Tree  of  Liberty,  Aug.  14,  1765,"  stamped 
upon  it  in  "  golden  letters,"  was  gay  with  lan- 
terns ;  a  pyramid  of  two  hundred  and  eighty 
lamps  glowed  on  the  Common ;  the  houses 
shone  with  lighted  windows;  while  streams  of 
people  passed  to  and  fro,  congratulating  each 
other  upon  the  happy  ending  of  their  trials. 

In  their  relief  at  being  freed  from  the  Stamp 
Act,  few  stopped  to  realize  the  full  meaning  of 


38  THOMAS    HUTCHINSON. 

a  sentence  which  accompanied  the  repeal,  —  a 
sentence  which  declared  that  Parliament  had 
power  to  bind  America  "  in  all  cases  whatso- 
ever." 


SAMUEL  ADAMS. 

I. 

THE  FATHER  OF  THE  REVOLUTION. 

A  WELL-BUILT  house,  comfortable  still,  though 
falling  into  decay,  stood,  in  1765,  on  Purchase 
Street,  overlooking  the  water.  Each  night, 
long  after  other  houses  were  dark,  a  light 
shone  from  this ;  for  within,  in  his  study,  sat 
Samuel  Adams,  plying  an  untiring  pen. 

This  pen  furnished  many  an  article  for  the 
newspapers  of  the  day.  It  had  said,  "  It  is 
safe  for  every  man  to  adhere  to  the  law,"  and 
it  insisted  that  the  laws  of  England,  rightly 
understood,  justified  the  colonists. 

When  Parliament  declared  that  it  had  power 
to  bind  the  colonies  in  all  cases  whatsoever, 
and  shortly  after  proceeded  to  levy  taxes  on 
glass,  paper,  painters'  colors,  and  tea,  this  never- 

39 


4O  SAMUEL    ADAMS. 

resting  pen  found  yet  more  work  to  do.  It 
wrote  letters  to  be  sent  to  London,  explaining 
what  the  colonists  thought  about  taxation;  it 
wrote  a  circular  letter  to  be  sent  from  one 
colony  to  another,  saying  that  the  colonists 
must  stand  by  each  other,  and  refuse  to  let 
Parliament  lay  their  taxes.  It  wrote  a  famous 
petition  to  the  king. 

Now  for  a  plain  man,  in  a  shabby  house,  in 
an  American  colony,  to  be  writing  a  petition 
to  the  king  of  England,  might  well  seem  a 
wonderful  thing  to  many  people.  It  seemed 
wonderful  enough  to  Samuel  Adams's  daugh- 
ter Hannah. 

"  Only  think  of  it !  "  she  exclaimed,  when  she 
saw  her  father  preparing  the  petition,  "  that 
paper  will  soon  be  touched  by  the  royal  hand !  " 

"  My  dear,"  Samuel  Adams  answered,  "  it 
will,  more  likely,  be  spurned  by  the  royal 
foot!" 

He  was  quite  right.  The  king  paid  little 
heed  to  the  remonstrances  of  his  American 
subjects.  But  the  Americans  did  not  intend 


SAMUEL   ADAMS. 


SAMUEL    ADAMS.  43 

to  pay  the  taxes,  notwithstanding.  By  the  ad- 
vice of  Samuel  Adams  and  others,  the  patriots 
throughout  the  country  agreed  to  "eat  nothing, 
drink  nothing,  wear  nothing  "  that  came  from 
Great  Britain. 

The  wives  and  daughters  of  the  Boston  men 
would  not  buy  or  drink  any  tea.  They  gave 
up  wearing  mourning  for  the  death  of  friends, 
because  they  would  not  use  the  fine  black 
cloths,  all  of  which  were  then  brought  over 
from  England.  Every  one  dressed  in  the  cloths 
that  were  manufactured  here.  Homespun  be- 
came the  fashionable  wear. 

Spinning-wheels  were  set  up  in  the  drawing- 
rooms,  where  young  girls  were  expected  to 
know  how  to  use  them,  and  spinning-matches 
were  held  on  the  Common,  to  encourage  all 
classes  in  the  industry. 

The  non-importation  agreement,  and  the 
resolute  spirit  of  the  Boston  men,  alarmed  the 
king's  officials.  They  asked  for  troops,  for 
protection.  English  soldiers  were  sent,  there- 
fore, to  rebellious  Boston,  to  try  to  keep  it  in 
order. 


44  THE    BOSTON    MASSACRE. 

II. 

THE  BOSTON  MASSACRE. 

The  soldiers  arrived  on  the  ist  of  October, 
1768.  Two  regiments  and  part  of  a  third 
landed  at  Long  Wharf  and  marched  through 
the  streets  with  flying  colors,  to  the  beat  of  the 
drum.  Soon  the  Common  was  white  with  their 
tents,  the  Town  House,  in  which  a  number  of 
them  slept,  noisy  with  their  voices.  British 
cannon  were  planted  in  King  Street ;  the  red- 
coats were  everywhere  to  be  seen. 

The  townsfolk  were  bitterly  opposed  to  the 
coming  of  the  troops,  but  they  resolved  to  keep 
the  peace.  They  meant  to  prove  that  Boston 
was  not  a  turbulent,  troublesome  hotbed  of 
discontent,  but  the  home  of  men  who  could 
defend  their  rights  soberly  and  without  vio- 
lence. 

For  a  year  and  a  half  the  scarlet  uniforms 
and  the  coats  of  homespun  jostled  each  other 
in  the  streets,  and  irritation  grew  on  both  sides. 


THE    BOSTON    MASSACRE.  45 

The  people,  and  the  soldiers,  too,  however, 
controlled  themselves  wonderfully  well ;  but 
ill-will  was  rife,  and  at  last  the  bad  feeling 
broke  out  in  what  has  been  called  the  Boston 
Massacre. 

On  Friday,  the  2d  of  March,  in  the  year 
1770,  some  Boston  rope-makers  had  a  quarrel 
and  a  short  fight  with  several  of  the  soldiers. 
Both  sides  let  their  friends  know  that  on  Mon- 
day, March  5th,  the  quarrel  would  be  renewed. 

When  Monday  evening  came,  parties  of  men 
and  boys  and  bands  of  soldiers  were  to  be 
seen  passing  hither  and  thither  through  the 
streets. 

One  squad  of  soldiers,  on  their  way  from  the 
main-guard  on  King  Street  to  the  Brattle 
Street  barracks,  was  met  by  a  crowd  of  men 
armed  with  sticks  and  canes.  High  words 
passed.  Blows  followed.  The  soldiers  raised 
their  guns  as  if  to  fire,  but  an  officer  who 
chanced  to  pass  at  that  moment  ordered  the 
soldiers  away. 

The  mischief  was  done,  however,  for  some 


46  THE    BOSTON    MASSACRE. 

one  had  already  hurried  to  the  alarm-bell,  and 
soon  its  strokes  pealed  out  upon  the  air,  while 
cries  of  "  To  arms,  to  arms  !  the  soldiers  are 
rising  !  "  "  Town-born,  turn  out !  town-born, 
turn  out !  "  aroused  the  people. 

Pouring  from  their  doors  they  rushed  to 
g  Street. 

"  To  the  main-guard  !  to  the  main-guard  ! 
there's  the  nest !  "  shouted  some ;  while  others, 
more  prudent,  tried  to  quiet  the  excited  throng. 

In  King  Street,  in  front  of  the  Custom 
House,  stood  a  sentinel. 

"  There's  the  soldier  who  knocked  me  down!  " 
called  out  a  boy. 

"  Kill  him !  knock  him  down  ! "  roared  a 
chorus  of  voices. 

The  sentinel  ran  up  the  steps  and  loaded  his 
gun. 

"  The  lobster  is  going  to  fire !  "  exclaimed 
another  boy. 

"  If  you  fire,  you  must  die  for  it !  "  said 
Henry  Knox  to  the  sentinel. 

"  If  they  touch  me,  I'll  fire,"  answered  he. 


THE    BOSTON    MASSACRE. 


47 


Snowballs  came  pelting  about  him. 
"  Keep  off !  "  he  cried  ;  and,  pointing  his  gun 
at  the  crowd,  called  loudly  for  help. 


THE   BOSTON    MASSACRE. 


Captain  Preston  and  eight  other  soldiers 
came  from  the  main-guard  to  his  aid.  They 
stood  there,  ten  armed  men,  facing  the  fifty  or 


48  THE    BOSTON    MASSACRE. 

sixty  citizens  who  by  this  time  had  gathered  in 
front  of  the  Custom  House. 

"  Take  your  men  back  again,"  urged  Knox, 
seizing  Preston's  arm.  "  If  they  fire,  your  life 
must  answer  for  the  consequences." 

"  I  know  what  I'm  about,"  said  the  captain, 
and  turned  to  his  men,  who  were  pressing  upon 
the  people  with  their  bayonets. 

"  Fire  if  you  dare,  you  lobster-backs !  "  called 
the  crowd.  "  Why  don't  you  fire  ?  "  and  sticks, 
stones,  and  clubs  were  hurled  at  the  file. 

Then  a  gun  went  off,  —  another,  and  another 
—  seven  shots.  / 

The  people  fell  back,  trispus  Attucks,  a 
powerful  man,  half-negro,  half- Indian,  who  had 
been  a  leader  of  the  mob,  lay  dead  upon  the 
ground.  Samuel  Gray  and  James  Caldwell,  on- 
lookers merely,  were  killed  too.  Eight  others 
were  badly  wounded. 

The  clrums  of  the  soldiery  and  the  drums  of 
the  town,  alike,  now  beat  to  arms.  Several 
companies  of  the  2gih  regiment  marched  rap- 
idly to  the  spot,  and  knelt,  with  levelled  guns, 
in  position  for  street  firing. 


THE    BOSTON    MASSACRE.  49 

The  frightened  populace,  arriving  upon  the 
scene,  saw,  by  the  moonlight,  the  kneeling 
troops,  the  blood-stained  snow,  and  their  dead 
or  dying  comrades  now  being  carried  away  by 
friends. 

Presently  they  caught  sight  of  Hutchinson, 
just  appearing.  "  To  the  Town  House  !  "  they 
cried,  as  he  stopped  to  reprimand  Captain 
Preston. 

Into  the  Town  House  Hutchinson  went. 
Stepping  out  upon  the  balcony,  he  addressed 
the  crowd  below.  A  full  inquiry,  he  assured 
them,  should  be  made,  and  justice  should  be 
done ;  he  begged  them  to  return  to  their 
homes. 

But  the  people  refused  to  move  while  the 
soldiers  remained. 

Hutchinson  appealed  then  to  the  officers, 
asking  them  to  withdraw  the  troops.  They 
gave  the  command,  and  the  soldiers  rose,  shoul- 
dered arms,  and  withdrew  to  their  barracks. 

Satisfied  with  this,  the  citizens  also  moved 
slowly  away. 


5O  SAM    ADAMS  S    REGIMENTS. 

III. 
SAM  ADAMS'S  REGIMENTS. 

On  the  very  next  day  an  immense  meeting 
was  held  in  the  Old  South  Church,  and  Samuel 
Adams,  at  the  head  of  a  committee,  was  sent  to 
Hutchinson  to  demand  that  the  troops  should 
be  removed  from  the  town. 

Hutchinson  replied  that  he  could  not  order 
the  troops  away ;  only  General  Gage,  who  was 
in  New  York,  could  do  that.  He  was  their 
commander ;  the  order  must  come  from  him. 

Adams,  however,  insisted.  Colonel  Dal- 
rymple,  sitting  near  Hutchinson  in  the  council 
chamber,  remarked  in  a  low  voice  that  he  could 
take  one  regiment  to  the  Castle.  Hutchinson 
consented  to  this.  He  said  he  would  send  away 
one  regiment,  and  Samuel  Adams  left  the 
Town  House  to  carry  that  answer  to  the  peo- 
ple assembled  in  the  Old  South  Church. 

But  Adams  was  determined  that  the  answer 
should  not  satisfy  the  people.  He  knew  that 


o   O 


SAM    ADAMS  S    REGIMENTS.  53 

both  regiments  must  be  removed ;  and  as  he 
passed  through  the  crowded  streets  and  up  the 
aisle  of  the  church,  he  said  significantly,  bow- 
ing as  he  did  so  to  the  right  and  to  the  left, 
"  Both  regiments,  or  none !  Both,  or  none ! " 

His  hint  was  understood.  When  he  an- 
nounced from  the  pulpit  that  Hutchinson  had 
promised  that  one  regiment  should  be  sent 
away,  and  then  asked  if  Hutchinson's  answer 
was  satisfactory,  the  people  shouted  with  a  will, 
"  No !  "  and  "  Both  regiments  !  " 

Back  again  to  Hutchinson  he  went,  to  say 
that  the  meeting  was  not  appeased;  that  both 
regiments  must  go. 

Hutchinson,  with  twenty-four  councillors  and 
several  British  officers,  still  sat  at  the  great 
council-table.  The  scarlet  waistcoats,  powdered 
wigs,  and  gold-laced  hats  made  the  room  bril- 
liant with  color.  When  Samuel  Adams,  in  his 
suit  of  homespun,  stood  before  them,  it  may 
well  have  seemed  that  English  magnificence 
must  overawe  American  simplicity. 

Adams   repeated   his  request.       Hutchinson 


54  SAM    ADAMS  S    REGIMENTS. 

was  firm.  One  regiment  only,  he  said,  — 
Colonel  Dalrymple's,  —  could  be  sent  to  the 
Castle. 

But  toward  the  imposing  circle  Adams 
stretched  a  commanding  arm.  Pointing  at 
Hutchinson,  he  said  :  "  If  you,  or  Colonel  Dal- 
rymple  under  you,  have  the  power  to  remove 
one  regiment,  you  have  the  power  to  remove 
both.  It  is  at  your  peril  if  you  refuse.  The 
meeting  is  composed  of  three  thousand  people. 
They  are  become  impatient.  Night  is  approach- 
ing. An  immediate  answer  is  expected.  Both 
regiments  or  none !  "  Hutchinson  grew  pale 
with  anger.  He  saw,  at  last,  that  he  must 
yield.  Actually  trembling  with  rage  and  cha- 
grin, he  promised  that  the  troops  should  go. 
On  the  following  morning  the  removal  was 
begun ;  both  regiments  were  sent  to  the  Castle. 
Ever  since,  because  Adams's  wishes,  and  not 
the  lieutenant-governor's  nor  the  general's  nor 
the  king's,  were  obeyed,  those  troops  have  been 
spoken  of  as  "Sam  Adams's  Regiments." 


THE   BOSTON   TEA-PARTY. 

DECEMBER  16,  1773. 

As  a  concession  to  the  colonies,  Parliament 
in  1770  took  off  the  taxes  on  paper,  glass,  and 
painters'  colors.  It  did  not,  however,  take  off 
the  tax  on  tea. 

The  Americans  knew  that  while  a  single  tax 
remained  they  must  continue  their  resistance. 
Merchants,  therefore,  still  refused  to  import  the 
tea;  patriots,  with  their  wives  and  daughters, 
still  refused  to  drink  it. 

In  Boston  a  kind  of  sham  tea  was  made  of 
raspberry  -  leaves  ;  Connecticut  housekeepers 
preferred  thyme  for  their  teapots ;  while  with 
others  a  shrub,  even  now  called  New  Jersey 
tea,  was  the  favorite. 

As  the  colonists  would  not  buy  the  real  tea, 
great  quantities  of  it  lay  unsold  in  the  English 
ports.  Its  owners,  of  course,  wished  very  much 
to  get  rid  of  it.  They  hoped  that  if  the  price 

55 


56  THE    BOSTON    TEA-PARTY. 

were  reduced,  the  Americans  might  be  induced 
to  purchase  the  tea ;  so  the  price  was  lowered 
by  three-pence  a  pound,  and  ships  loaded  with 
tea-chests  were  despatched  across  the  Atlantic. 

The  price,  however,  was  not  at  all  what  the 
Americans  objected  to.  They  objected  to  the 
tax  itself.  And  as  that  had  not  been  removed, 
they  were  unshaken  in  their  resolve  that  the 
tea  should  not  be  bought. 

Wishing  to  act  in  concert,  they  formed  com- 
mittees of  correspondence  ;  and  letters  posted 
back  and  forth  carrying  news  and  encouraging 
all  to  keep  to  their  agreement. 

Lord  North,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  min- 
istry, was  warned  that  if  England  forced  the 
tea  upon  the  colonies,  serious  trouble  would 
ensue. 

"  The  king  will  have  it  so,"  he  answered. 
"  The  king  means  to  try  the  question  with 
America." 

If  the  king  meant  to  try  the  question  with 
America,  America  was  ready  to  have  it  tried. 
The  Boston  committee  of  correspondence  as- 


THE    BOSTON    TEA-PARTY.  57 

sured  the  other  committees  that  Massachusetts 
would  not  allow  the  tea  to  land,  and  the 
answers  which  came  from  them  showed  that  all 
were  of  one  mind. 

"  The  people  would  rather  buy  so  much 
poison,"  wrote  a  New  York  man ;  and  the 
Philadelphians  would  have  said  the  same. 

In  November,  1773,  the  Dartmouth,  loaded 
with  tea,  arrived  in  Boston,  and  was  moored  at 
Griffin's  Wharf.  Not  long  afterward  two  other 
ships  came  up  the  bay,  and  were  anchored 
near  her.  The  tea,  however,  remained  in  their 
holds,  for  a  guard  of  twenty-five  men  watched 
night  and  day  to  prevent  the  removal  of  a 
single  chest. 

The  Boston  men  declared  that  the  ships 
must  bear  their  cargoes  straight  back  to  Eng- 
land. The  owners  and  the  captains  replied 
that  the  vessels  could  not  do  that  without  a 
permit  from  the  governor  or  from  the  Custom 
House,  and  permits  were  refused. 

Yet  if  the  tea  was  not  taken  from  the  ves- 
sels or  carried  away  again  before  the  I7th  of 


58  THE    BOSTON    TEA-PARTY. 

December,  the  government  would  have  the 
right  to  seize  the  cargoes  and  do  as  it  liked 
with  the  tea,  —  perhaps  put  it  into  the  hands  of 
tea-merchants  who  were  on  the  king's  side  and 
who  had  plenty  of  Tory  customers. 

The  1 6th  came.  A  great  meeting  filled  the 
Old  South  Church  to  overflowing.  Francis 
Rotch,  the  owner  of  the  Dartmouth,  appeared 
before  the  meeting  and  said  that  he  had  not 
succeeded  in  getting  the  papers  which  would 
enable  his  ship  to  sail.  He  was  bidden  to  go 
again  to  Hutchinson,  who  was  now  the  gover- 
nor, and  to  ask  for  the  last  time  for  permission 
to  send  back  the  tea. 

Hutchinson  was  at  his  country-seat  in  Mil- 
ton ;  but  Mr.  Rotch  hastened  out  to  find  him, 
while  the  people  in  the  Old  South  patiently 
awaited  the  reply. 

As  the  hours  dragged  on,  the  time  was  en- 
livened by  speeches.  "  Who  knows,"  said  John 
Rowe,  "how  tea  will  mingle  with  salt  water?" 
This  hint  was  hailed  with  applause. 

December  days  are  short.     By  five   o'clock 


THE  OLD  SOUTH. 


THE    BOSTON    TEA-PARTY.  6 1 

it  was  quite  dark.  The  Old  South  was  but 
dimly  lighted  by  a  few  candles.  Still  the 
people  lingered.  Finally,  at  six  o'clock,  Mr. 
Rotch  returned. 

Making  his  way  to  the  pulpit,  he  announced 
that  his  errand  had  been  a  failure.  Hutchinson 
had  again  refused  to  furnish  him  with  a  pass. 

As  Rotch  finished  speaking,  Samuel  Adams 
arose.  In  a  loud,  clear  voice  he  said,  "  This 
meeting  can  do  nothing  more  to  save  the 
country." 

"  Boston  harbor  a  teapot  to-night !  Hurrah 
for  Griffin's  Wharf ! "  called  a  voice  in  the 
gallery. 

At  the  same  moment  a  shout  sounded  out- 
side, and,  no  one  knew  whence,  but  seeming  to 
spring  up  at  every  corner,  bands  of  queerly 
dressed  men,  many  of  them  disguised  as  In- 
dians, rushed  down  to  the  wharf. 

One  of  the  company,  Joshua  Wyeth,  says : 
"  We  placed  a  sentry  at  the  head  of  the  wharf, 
another  in  the  middle,  and  one  on  the  bow  of 
each  ship  as  we  took  possession.  We  boarded 


62  THE    BOSTON    TEA-PARTY. 

the  ship  moored  to  the  wharf,  and  our  leader  .  .  . 
ordered  the  captain  and  the  crew  to  open  the 
hatchways  and  hand  us  the  hoisting-tackle  and 
ropes,  assuring  them  that  no  harm  was  intended 
them.  The  captain  asked  what  we  intended  to 
do.  Our  leader  told  him  that  we  were  going  to 
unload  the  tea,  and  ordered  him  and  the  crew 
below.  They  instantly  obeyed.  Some  of  our 
number  then  jumped  into  the  hold  and  passed 
the  chests  to  the  tackle.  As  they  were  hauled 
on  deck,  others  knocked  them  open  with  axes, 
and  others  raised  them  to  the  railing  and  dis- 
charged their  contents  overboard.  .  .  .  We  were 
merry,  in  an  undertone,  at  the  idea  of  making 
so  large  a  cup  of  tea  for  the  fishes,  but  were  as 
still  as  the  nature  of  the  case  would  admit.  .  .  ." 
And  another  gives  this  account :  — 
"  The  captain  of  the  brig  begged  that  they 
would  not  begin  with  his  vessel,  as  the  tea 
was  covered  with  goods  belonging  to  different 
merchants  of  the  town. 

"  They  told  him  the   tea  they  wanted,  and 
the  tea  they  would  have ;  but  if  he  would  go 


THE    BOSTON    TEA-PARTY.  65 

into  his  cabin  quietly,  not  one  article  of  his 
goods  should  be  hurt.  They  immediately  pro- 
ceeded to  remove  the  goods  and  thus  to  dis- 
pose of  the  tea." 

The  men  were  "  clothed  in  blankets,  with 
their  heads  muffled  and  copper-colored  counte- 
nances, being  each  armed  with  a  hatchet  or 
axe.  .  .  .  Not  the  least  insult  was  offered  to  any 
person  save  one  Captain  O'Connor,  .  .  .  who 
had  ripped  up  the  lining  of  his  coat  and  waist- 
coat under  the  arms,  and  .  .  .  had  nearly  filled 
them  with  tea,  but  being  detected  was  handled 
pretty  roughly.  They  not  only  stripped  him  of 
his  clothes,  but  gave  him  a  coat  of  mud,  with 
a  severe  bruising  into  the  bargain ;  and  noth- 
ing but  their  utter  aversion  to  any  disturbance 
prevented  his  being  tarred  and  feathered." 

When  all  was  over,  the  men,  who  had  been 
wading  ankle  deep  in  tea,  were  called  together, 
ordered  to  empty  their  shoes  of  the  tea  that 
had  lodged  in  them,  told  to  "shoulder  arms," 
and  then  marshalled  in  strict  order  to  the  head 
of  the  wharf,  whence  they  went  back  to  their 


66  THE    BOSTON    TEA-PARTY. 

homes.  In  the  space  of  two  or  three  hours 
they  had  broken  open  three  hundred  and  forty- 
two  chests  of  tea. 

Nothing  but  the  tea  had  been  harmed.  So 
careful  were  they  to  respect  all  other  property 
that  a  padlock,  broken  by  accident,  was  re- 
placed by  a  new  one. 

In  the  early  morning  the  rising  tide,  as  if  to 
play  the  part  of  Tory,  floated  the  mass  of  tea- 
leaves  toward  the  shore  again ;  but  the  Boston 
men  would  not  suffer  even  this  landing  to  be 
made.  On  discovering  that  the  incoming 
water,  from  Fort  Hill  to  Dorchester,  was 
coated  with  the  tea,  they  put  out  in  boats 
and  stirred  with  a  will  until  it  sank  and  dis- 
appeared. 


GENERAL   GAGE. 

I. 

THE  PORT  BILL  AND  THE  REGULATION  ACTS. 

WHEN  the  news  of  the  destruction  of  the  tea 
reached  England,  the  king  resolved  to  punish 
Boston.  The  town  was  immediately  placed 
under  military  rule.  Hutchinson  sailed  for 
London.  General  Gage  came  from  New  York 
to  take  charge  of  Boston  affairs. 

Gage  came  with  orders  to  close  the  port  of 
Boston.  After  the  ist  of  June,  1774,  not  an 
American  craft  was  to  show  itself  in  Boston 
Harbor.  Even  English  vessels,  with  merchan- 
dise or  supplies,  were  to  avoid  Boston,  and  to 
put  in  at  Salem  or  Marblehead. 

This  threatened  ruin  to  the  Boston  mer- 
chants. In  June  the  wharves  lay  idle,  the 
warehouses  were  empty,  men  who  had  made 

their  living  by   buying  and   selling  what   was 

67 


68  GENERAL    GAGE. 

brought  to  them  in  ships  found  their  business 
at  an  end. 

Besides  this,  provisions  grew  scarce.  The 
boats  which  had  formerly  come  with  supplies 
from  the  other  colonies  or  with  produce  from 
the  neighboring  country  came  no  more.  No 
one  might  fetch  hay  or  wood  from  the  islands, 
or  pumpkins  or  potatoes  from  the  farms. 
Such  things  must  take  a  roundabout  land 
journey  and  get  in  over  Roxbury  Neck,  if  they 
arrived  at  all. 

The  closing  of  the  port  was  not  the  only 
penalty  Gage  had  come  to  inflict.  He  was  to 
carry  out  the  Regulation  Acts. 

The  Regulation  Acts  were  certain  com- 
mands of  Parliament  which  quartered  more 
troops  upon  the  town,  forbade  the  holding  of 
town-meetings  without  the  consent  of  the  gov- 
ernor, and  took  away  from  the  Massachusetts 
people  the  right  to  choose  their  own  council- 
lors and  to  pay  their  own  judges. 

But  now  the  Massachusetts  people,  in  some 
patriotic  declarations  called  the  Suffolk  Re- 


GENERAL  GAGE.  69 

solves,  announced  that  a  king  who  had  broken 
faith  with  his  people  by  permitting  such  injus- 
tice could  not  claim  their  support  any  longer. 
Henceforth,  said  the  Resolves,  the  people  would 
obey  the  Continental  Congress,  and  a  Provin- 
cial Congress  should  be  formed. 

Gage,  alarmed  at  this,  began  to  seize  the 
powder  belonging  to  the  Province.  His  sol- 
diers captured  what  was  stored  in  the  old  mill 
not  far  from  the  hill  on  which  Tufts  College 
now  stands ;  and  on  the  same  day  they  carried 
off  two  field-pieces  from  Cambridge.  They 
tried  also  to  get  the  powder  that  was  kept  in 
Salem ;  but  in  this  they  did  not  succeed. 

The  farmers,  on  their  side,  prepared  for  war. 
Every  town  had  its  band  of  militia.  Every 
village  green  became  a  training-ground.  Men 
of  all  ages,  —  fathers  and  sons,  —  answered  the 
beat  of  the  drum,  assembled  in  companies, 
marched  and  countermarched,  and  presented 
and  shouldered  arms,  under  the  teaching  of 
some  veteran  who  had  learned  his  lesson  in 
fighting  against  the  French.  Alarm  com- 


7O  GAGE  S    SCOUTS. 

panics,  called  minute-men,  held  themselves 
ready  to  spring  to  arms  at  any  hour  of  the  day 
or  night ;  they  were  especially  warned  to  be 
ready  at  a  minute's  notice  to  defend  the  arms, 
ammunition,  and  food  collected  by  the  patriots 
for  the  use  of  the  American  army. 


II. 
GAGE'S  Scours  IN  WORCESTER  AND  CONCORD. 

I774-I775- 

By  the  middle  of  the  winter  a  good  supply 
of  rice,  flour,  and  other  stores  for  a  Provincial 
army  had  been  gathered  and  forwarded  for 
safe-keeping  to  Worcester  and  Concord. 

Gage  had  forbidden  the  buying  of  these 
stores.  He  determined  to  destroy  them. 

First,  he  must  find  out  where  they  were 
placed,  and  by  what  roads  a  body  of  soldiers 
could  best  reach  them.  So  he  sent  two  young 
officers  on  a  trip  of  discovery. 

As  the  officers,  Captain   Brown  and  Ensign 


72  GAGE  S    SCOUTS. 

De  Berniere,  did  not  wish  to  be  known  for 
Englishmen,  they  dressed  themselves  as  farm- 
ers, in  "  brown  clothes,"  and  with  reddish  hand- 
kerchiefs about  their  necks.  Thus  disguised, 
they  set  off,  in  the  latter  part  of  February,  for 
Worcester.  They  crossed  the  river  to  Charles- 
town,  and  walked  on  through  Cambridge  to 
Watertown. 

In  Watertown  was  a  tavern,  which  they  en- 
tered, intending  to  rest  there  for  the  night. 
Having  ordered  dinner  in  a  private  room,  they 
sat  contentedly  enough  over  their  comfortable 
meal,  until  they  noticed  that  the  negro  woman 
who  served  them  eyed  them  very  sharply. 

"  This  is  a  fine  country,"  one  of  them  said  to 
her,  suavely. 

"  So  it  is,"  she  replied  on  the  instant ;  "  and 
we  have  brave  fellows  to  defend  it ;  and  if  you 
go  up  any  higher,  you  will  find  it  so." 

The  retort  took  them  aback.  If  they  were 
suspected,  they  could  not  remain.  Making  an 
end  of  their  meal,  they  hurried  away. 

Captain  Brown's  servant,  John,  who  accom- 


GAGES    SCOUTS.  73 

panied  them  and  who  had  had  his  own  expe- 
riences in  the  kitchen,  now  confided  to  them 
that  the  woman  had  told  him  that  she  knew 
them  to  be  British  officers,  and  that  they  would 
meet  with  rough  usage  if  they  ventured  far  into 
the  country. 

De  Berniere  frankly  owns  that  when  they 
heard  this  they  thought  of  turning  back,  but 
that  on  second  thoughts,  reminding  each  other 
that  if  they  did  they  would  "  appear  very  fool- 
ish," they  decided  to  push  on. 

The  next  tavern  they  tried  was  six  miles  fur- 
ther along,  in  Weston.  Its  sign  told  them  that 
it  was  called  "  The  Golden  Ball." 

The  landlord  of  "  The  Golden  Ball "  proved 
most  obliging.  When  they  asked  for  coffee 
and  a  fire,  he  answered  meaningly,  "  You  can 
have  whichever  you  like,  —  coffee,  or  tea  !  " 

Now  no  patriot  would  have  offered  tea.  The 
man  was  plainly  a  Tory. 

This  made  them  feel  quite  safe  under  his 
roof.  They  slept  there  until  morning,  when 
he  sped  them  upon  their  journey,  advising 


74  GAGES    SCOUTS. 

them  to  look  for  Jones's  tavern  on  arriving  in 
Worcester. 

They  had  left  Boston  on  Thursday.  On 
Saturday  they  walked  into  Worcester ;  and 
finding  the  right  tavern,  and  Mr.  Jones,  they 
were  pleased  to  find  that  here  again  they  might 
have  "  tea,  or  anything  else  they  chose." 

"  The  next  day  being  Sunday,"  writes  De 
Berniere,  "  we  could  not  think  of  travelling,  as 
it  was  contrary  to  the  custom  of  the  country ; 
nor  dare  we  stir  out  until  the  evening,  because 
of  meeting.  .  .  .  Nobody  is  allowed  to  walk  the 
streets  during  divine  service,  without  being 
taken  up  and  examined ;  so  that,  thinking  we 
could  not  stand  the  examination  so  well,  we 
thought  it  prudent  to  stay  at  home,  where 
we  wrote  and  corrected  our  sketches. .  .  . 

"  In  the  evening  we  went  round  the  town 
and  on  all  the  hills  that  commanded  it,  sketch- 
ing everything  we  desired,  and  returned  to  the 
town  without  being  seen." 

They  had  now  learned  almost  enough  about 
the  country  to  be  able  to  guide  the  troops  from 


GAGE  S    SCOUTS.  75 

Boston  to  Worcester  by  way  of  Framingham, 
and  this  they  fully  expected  to  do  before  long. 
To  be  quite  sure  of  the  road,  however,  they 
needed  to  go  over  part  of  it  again  ;  so,  though 
they  intended  to  explore  the  Maryborough  road 
also,  they  decided  that  they  must  first  go  back 
as  far  as  Buckminster's  tavern  in  Framingham, 
and  then  strike  across  to  Marlborough. 

At  daybreak  they  arose,  and  after  breakfast- 
ing and  supplying  themselves  with  food  for  the 
rest  of  the  day,  set  out  on  the  way  by  which 
they  had  come.  A  little  beyond  Shrewsbury, 
the  road  forked  —  the  way  to  Marlborough  ran 
to  the  left,  the  way  to  Framingham  to  the  right. 
Just  before  they  reached  the  parting  of  the 
ways  a  horseman  overtook  them. 

He  rode  slowly  beside  them,  looking  at 
them  with  close  scrutiny,  but  without  saying 
a  word ;  then,  as  if  he  had  learned  all  he  cared 
to  know,  he  suddenly  put  his  horse  into  a  gal- 
lop and  dashed  off  to  Marlborough. 

The  two  young  soldiers  did  not  like  this  at 
all,  and  would  have  been  still  more  disturbed 


76  GAGE'S  SCOUTS. 

had  they  been  told  who  he  was  ;  for  he  was 
a  messenger  sent  by  the  committee  of  corre- 
spondence to  obtain  news  of  them  for  the 
Marlborough  folk. 

Their  danger  increased  now  with  every  hour. 
The  wide-awake  committee  had  eyes,  ears,  feet, 
and  tongues  at  their  command  through  every 
mile  of  the  countryside. 

By  six  o'clock  that  evening  the  travellers 
came  in  sight  of  Buckminster's  tavern,  where 
they  were  to  stop  for  the  night. 

As  they  approached  they  heard  shouts  of 
command  and  the  tramp  of  marching  feet. 
To  their  dismay  they  saw  that  a  company  of 
rebel  militia  was  being  drilled  before  the 
house. 

To  turn  back  unnoticed  was  impossible. 
They  put  a  bold  face  upon  the  matter  and 
entered  the  inn. 

The  drill  proceeded.  An  hour  passed.  Then 
the  marching  came  nearer,  nearer  yet,  until 
the  company  took  position  upon  the  green 
just  outside  of  the  room  in  which  Brown  and 
De  Berniere  were  sitting. 


GAGES    SCOUTS.  77 

There  the  drill  was  vigorously  resumed.  It 
ended  at  last,  and  the  men  stood  in  silence 
while  one  of  their  commanders  made  them  a 
stirring  speech,  every  word  of  which  could  be 
heard  by  the  listeners  within. 

He  urged  his  men  to  be  cool,  to  be  patient, 
to  be  brave ;  he  reminded  them  that  they  had 
already  helped  to  win  battles  against  the 
French,  and  spoke  to  them  with  enthusiasm 
of  their  favorite  leaders,  General  Putnam  and 
General  Ward.  When  the  company  was  dis- 
missed, many  of  them  came  into  the  house  and 
remained  until  nine  o'clock;  but  the  two  offi- 
cers were  not  molested,  though,  doubtless,  their 
errand  was  known. 

On  the  morrow  they  came  once  more  to  the 
tavern  of  their  friendly  tea-drinker,  Jones,  of 
Westpn,  and  passed  that  night  under  his  roof. 
They  were  not  yet  ready,  however,  to  return  to 
Boston.  General  Gage  would  expect  a  plan  of 
the  Marlborough  route,  and  that  they  had  not 
explored. 

The  landlord  said  all  he  could  against  their 


78  GAGE'S  SCOUTS. 

venturing  again  into  that  part  of  the  country, 
but  by  this  time  they  had  grown  confident  and 
were  not  to  be  dissuaded. 

John  was  sent  to  Boston  with  their  papers 
and  sketches,  but  his  masters  made  themselves 
ready  for  another  long  walk.  Meanwhile,  a 
snowstorm  had  come  on.  Hoping  that  it 
would  abate,  they  did  not  set  off  until  two 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  when  they  struck  out 
toward  the  Marlborough  road. 

The  snow  was  ankle  deep,  the  sky  darkened 
by  heavy  clouds.  They  plodded  doggedly  on 
and  were  about  three  miles  from  Marlborough 
when  suddenly  they  heard  a  muffled  thud  of 
hoofs  coming  along  the  snowy  road.  Turning, 
they  saw  a  horseman,  who  reined  up  beside 
them,  demanding,  "  Whence  do  you  come  ?  " 

"  From  Weston." 

"  Do  you  live  there  ?  " 

"  No." 

"  Where  do  you  live  ?  " 

"  At  Boston." 

"  Where  are  you  going  ?  " 


GAGE  S    SCOUTS.  79 

"  To  Marlborough,  to  see  a  friend."  They 
were,  indeed,  going  to  the  house  of  a  Mr. 
Barnes,  whom  they  knew  to  be  a  stanch  Tory. 

"  Are  you  in  the  army  ?  " 

This  alarmed  them,  and  they  answered  flatly, 
"  No." 

He  asked  a  few  more  questions,  and  then 
rode  on  to  Marlborough. 

The  Marlborough  people,  doubly  forewarned 
of  the  approach  of  the  strangers,  came  out  of 
their  houses,  in  all  the  storm,  to  see  them 
go  by. 

A  baker  accosted  them.  "  Where  are  you 
going,  masters  ?  "  said  he. 

"On  to  see  Mr.  Barnes,"  and  on  they  went. 

Arriving  at  Mr.  Barnes's  door,  they  apolo- 
gized for  making  use  of  his  house  and  name 
without  so  much  as  saying  "by  your  leave," 
and  confessed  to  him  that  they  were  officers  in 
disguise.  He  interrupted  them  by  saying, 
"  You  need  not  tell  me ;  you  are  already  very 
well  known  to  me,  and  so  you  are,  I  fear,  to  the 
people  of  the  town." 


8o  GAGE'S  SCOUTS. 

"  Recommend  to  us  then,  we  beg  of  you," 
said  the  officers,  unwilling  to  endanger  him, 
"  some  tavern  where  we  may  be  safe." 

"  You  will  be  safe  nowhere  but  in  my  house," 
was  the  response.  "  The  town  is  very  violent. 
You  were  expected  at  Colonel  Williams's  last 
night,  and  a  party  of  liberty  men  went  there  to 
meet  you." 

Then  Brown  and  De  Berniere  remembered 
the  horseman  of  the  previous  day.  He  had 
probably  prepared  the  town  for  their  reception. 

"  What  would  they  do  with  us  if  they  got  us 
into  their  hands  ?  "  asked  the  officers. 

Mr.  Barnes  did  not  answer.  The  question 
was  repeated. 

"  You  know  very  well  what  these  people  are," 
said  Mr.  Barnes,  reluctantly.  "  You  may  expect 
the  worst  of  treatment  from  them." 

Just  then  he  was  called  from  the  room. 

Brown  and  De  Berniere  saw  that  the  affair 
wore  a  very  threatening  face,  but  thought  they 
might  rest  for  two  or  three  hours  and  get 
away  by  midnight.  They  were  very  hungry 


GAGE'S  SCOUTS.  81 

as  well  as  tired ;  a  supper-table  had  been  laid 
for  them,  and  they  seated  themselves  with 
alacrity. 

They  had  hardly  begun  to  eat  when  Mr. 
Barnes  came  back,  looking  very  much  dis- 
turbed. "  I  must  tell  you  plainly,"  said  he, 
"  that  I  am  very  uneasy  about  you.  My  ser- 
vants say  that  an  attack  will  be  made  very 
soon.  There  is  no  safety  for  you  within  the 
town." 

Hastily  cramming  some  bread  into  their 
pockets,  the  young  men  rose  from  the  table. 

"  Is  there  no  road,"  they  asked,  "  which  will 
carry  us  around  the  outside  of  the  town,  so 
that  we  may  not  be  seen  ? " 

Barnes  led  the  way  to  the  rear  of  the  house, 
and  pointed  out  a  by-road  which  ran  about  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  settled  portion  of  the 
town.  The  fugitives  set  off  at  a  rapid  pace, 
and  Mr.  Barnes  rejoined  his  family. 

He  had  hardly  closed  the  back  door  when 
the  front  door  resounded  with  heavy  knock- 
ing. Opening  it,  he  found  himself  face  to  face 


82  GAGE'S  SCOUTS. 

with  several  grave  men,  members  of  the  com- 
mittee of  correspondence.  They  sternly  bade 
him  deliver  the  officers  into  their  charge.  Mr. 
Barnes  said  that  his  friends  had  gone.  His 
word  was  not  enough.  The  house  was  searched 
from  cellar  to  attic.  When  convinced  that 
those  whom  they  sought  were  really  not  there, 
the  members  of  the  committee  left,  but  turned 
to  Mr.  Barnes  before  going,  with  the  remark 
that  had  they  caught  the  officers  in  his  house, 
it  would  have  been  pulled  about  his  ears. 

At  noon  of  the  next  day,  when  General  Gage 
was  inspecting  the  new  fortifications  on  Bos- 
ton Neck,  he  saw  two  russet  figures  coming 
towards  him  through  the  snow.  As  they  drew 
near,  he  saw  that  they  were  Brown  and  De 
Berniere,  bringing  him  the  information  he 
desired. 

The  two  officers  had  done  so  well  in  their 
Worcester  journey  that  General  Gage  entrusted 
them  with  the  Concord  affair.  Read  what  De 
Berniere  says  of  that :  — 

"  The  twentieth  of    March   Captain   Brown 


GAGE'S  SCOUTS.  83 

and  myself  received  orders  to  set  out  for  Con- 
cord. .  .  .  We  arrived  there  without  any  insult 
being  offered  us.  ...  We  were  informed  that 
they  had  fourteen  pieces  of  cannon  (ten  iron 
and  four  brass),  and  two  cohorns. .  .  .  Their 
iron  cannon  they  kept  in  a  house  in  town ; 
their  brass  they  had  concealed  in  some  place 
behind  the  town,  in  a  wood.  They  had  also  a 
store  of  flour,  fish,  salt,  and  rice,  and  a  maga- 
zine of  powder  and  cartridges.  .  .  .  We  dined 
at  the  house  of  Mr.  Bliss,  a  friend  to  govern- 
ment. ...  A  woman  directed  us  to  Mr.  Bliss's 
house ;  a  little  while  after  she  came  in  crying, 
and  told  us  they  swore,  if  she  did  not  leave  the 
town,  they  would  tar  and  feather  her  for  direct- 
ing Tories  in  their  road." 


JOSEPH    WARREN. 

1775- 

FOR  a  number  of  years  after  the  Boston 
massacre  the  event  was  kept  in  mind,  as  the 
fifth  of  March  came  round,  by  meetings  and 
speeches  and  patriotic  declarations. 

The  people  were  wont  to  come  together  in 
Faneuil  Hall  or  in  the  Old  South  Church  to 
listen  to  an  oration  and  to  express  their  detes- 
tation of  having  troops  occupy  their  town. 

Joseph  Warren  was  their  favorite  orator. 
He  had  already  given  one  Fifth  of  March  ora- 
tion, and  now,  in  1775,  he  was  to  deliver 
another. 

There  was  danger  in  the  attempt.  Every  one 
expected  a  disturbance  from  the  soldiers,  and 
rumor  said  that  there  was  a  plot  afoot  to  take 
Warren,  Hancock,  and  Adams  prisoners.  Still, 
Warren  was  not  to  be  dissuaded ;  the  danger 
only  made  him  more  eager. 
84 


JOSEPH    WARREN.  85 

The  5th  of  March  came,  the  hour  for  the 
oration  approached,  the  church  was  filled,  but 
Warren  did  not  appear.  His  friends  looked 
anxiously  toward  a  group  of  British  officers 
who  had  gathered  about  the  entrance.  It 
seemed  impossible  that  Warren  could  make 
his  way  past  them  and  through  the  crowd  that 
thronged  the  aisles. 

Samuel  Adams,  sitting  with  John  Hancock 
in  the  raised  pulpit  under  the  bell-shaped 
sounding-board,  saw  the  scarlet  coats  about  the 
door,  and,  with  as  much  prudence  as  courtesy, 
ordered  the  best  front  pews  to  be  cleared, 
and  bade  the  officers  come  forward  to  the 
empty  seats.  Into  the  deacons'  pews  and  the 
places  reserved  for  the  elders  of  the  church 
filed  the  officers.  Some  of  them,  not  finding 
room  elsewhere,  perched  upon  the  pulpit  stairs, 
their  British  uniforms  making  a  startling  con- 
trast to  the  folds  of  mourning  draped  there  in 
memory  of  men  who  had  been  killed  by  British 
guns. 

Suddenly  at  the  window  behind  the  pulpit 


86  JOSEPH    WARREN. 

rose  the  head  and  shoulders  of  a  man.  There 
was  a  loud  shout  of  applause,  and  Warren, — 
for  it  was  he,  —  leaped  through  the  opening 
and  took  his  stand  behind  the  desk. 

He  had  foreseen  that  it  would  be  difficult  to 
enter  by  the  door.  He  had  thought,  indeed, 
that  some  mischance  might  prevent  his  reach- 
ing the  pulpit  at  all  if  he  took  the  usual  way. 
So  he  had  driven  to  an  apothecary's  near  by, 
had  there  put  on  his  orator's  robe,  and,  obtain- 
ing a  ladder,  had  mounted  to  the  window  from 
the  court  below. 

Now,  with  officers  of  the  British  army  all 
about  him,  as  he  stood  in  the  old-fashioned 
high  pulpit,  he  began  a  discourse  on  the  evils 
of  having  soldiers  quartered  on  the  town  in  a 
time  of  peace. 

"  Our  streets,"  he  said,  "  are  again  filled  with 
armed  men ;  our  harbor  is  crowded  with  ships 
of  war.  But  these  cannot  intimidate  us.  Our 
liberty  must  be  preserved.  It  is  far  dearer 
than  life."  And  again,  "  An  independence  of 
Great  Britain  is  not  our  aim.  No ;  our  wish 


JOSEPH    WARREN. 


JOSEPH    WARREN.  89 

is  that  Britain  and  the  colonies  may,  like  the 
oak  and  ivy,  grow  and  increase  in  strength 
together;  .  .  .  but  if  the  only  way  to  safety 
lies  through  fields  of  blood,  I  know  you  will 
not  turn  your  faces  from  your  foes." 

While  Warren  was  speaking,  the  officers  in- 
dulged in  coughs,  exclamations,  and  groans. 
One  of  them,  sitting  directly  under  the  pulpit, 
caught  Warren's  glance,  and  thrusting  his  hand 
into  his  pocket,  brought  out  some  bullets,  which 
he  held  up  significantly  in  his  open  palm. 

Warren,  without  a  moment's  hesitation, 
dropped  his  white  cambric  handkerchief  upon 
the  bullets,  and  went  on  smoothly  with  what 
he  was  saying. 

The  handkerchief  was,  perhaps,  a  sign  of 
truce.  It  was,  at  any  rate,  a  token  of  fear- 
lessness, and  he  was  allowed  to  speak  to  the 
end. 

When  he  had  finished,  a  vote  of  thanks  was 
called  for.  "  Fie,  fie ! "  cried  the  officers,  to 
show  that  they,  at  least,  did  not  thank  him 
at  all. 


9O  JOSEPH    WARREN. 

"  Fire,  fire !  "  echoed  the  panic-stricken 
crowd,  mistaking  the  officers'  words. 

For  a  few  moments  there  was  wild  confusion ; 
but  as  soon  as  it  was  quieted  by  the  assurance 
that  there  was  no  fire,  all  waited  to  pass  the 
usual  resolutions,  and  then  dispersed  in  peace. 


MAP  OF  COUNTRY   AROUND    BOSTON    (MASSACHUSETTS). 


THE   BATTLE  OF   LEXINGTON. 

APRIL  19,  1775. 

I. 
PAUL  REVERE'S  RIDE. 

EVERY  one  knew  that  Gage  meant  to  send 
troops  out  to  Concord  to  seize  the  cannon  and 
stores.  Every  one  said  that  the  soldiers  meant 
to  stop  at  Lexington  to  capture  John  Hancock 
and  Samuel  Adams,  who  had  taken  refuge 
there. 

A  number  of  men,  therefore,  most  of  them 
mechanics,  undertook  to  watch  the  doings  of 
the  British,  and  messengers  were  frequently 
sent  from  Boston  to  Lexington,  bearing  infor- 
mation of  the  movements  of  the  enemy.  One 
of  the  trustiest  of  these  messengers  was  Paul 
Revere. 

By  the  middle  of  April  it  was  noticed  that 
the  small  boats  belonging  to  the  army  were  put 

91 


92  THE    BATTLE    OF    LEXINGTON. 

in  order,  and  left  ready  for  use  under  the  sterns 
of  the  men-of-war.  On  the  evening  of  the  i8th 
a  body  of  soldiers  was  seen  moving  quietly 
across  the  Common  toward  the  river.  Word 
was  instantly  carried  to  Warren  that  the  troops 
were  on  the  march. 

Warren  lost  no  time  in  sending  for  Paul 
Revere.  He  told  him  that  he  must  get  to 
Lexington  before  the  troops,  warn  Hancock 
and  Adams  of  their  danger,  and  then  hasten 
on  to  give  the  alarm  in  Concord. 

Revere  had  promised  the  Charlestown  peo- 
ple that  as  soon  as  the  soldiers  moved  he  would 
flash  a  signal  from  the  Old  North  Church. 
One  lantern  hung  from  the  tower  would  mean 
that  they  had  passed  out  over  the  Neck ;  two, 
that  they  had  taken  to  the  boats  and  were 
crossing  the  river.  Stopping  only  to  ask  a 
friend  to  hang  out  the  lanterns,  he  hurried  to 
his  own  little  boat,  which  he  kept  at  the  north- 
ern end  of  the  town,  and  while  the  British  were 
embarking  from  the  western  shore  and  making 
for  Cambridge,  he  was  pulled  by  two  stout 
rowers  directly  over  to  Charlestown. 


CHRIST  CHURCH. 


THE    BATTLE    OF    LEXINGTON.  95 

The  moon  was  rising,  and  the  Somerset,  a 
British  man-of-war,  swung  slowly  with  the  in- 
coming tide.  Revere  passed  the  ship  unchal- 
lenged, and  landing  at  Charlestown  found  that 
the  people  there  had  seen  the  signals  and 
knew  already  what  he  had  to  tell  them. 

As  soon  as  a  horse  could  be  saddled,  he 
mounted,  and  leaving  the  few  late  lights  of 
the  village  behind  him,  sped  along  the  lonely 
country  road  leading  out  over  Charlestown 
Neck. 

He  had  been  told  that  parties  of  British 
officers  were  patrolling  the  roads  between  Bos- 
ton and  Concord,  to  catch  any  messenger  sent 
to  spread  the  alarm ;  and  he  soon  proved  the 
truth  of  the  warning,  for  before  he  was  well 
past  the  Neck  he  espied  two  horsemen  hiding 
in  the  shadow  of  a  tree. 

"  One  tried  to  get  ahead  of  me,"  says  Revere, 
"  and  the  other  to  take  me.  I  turned  my  horse 
very  quick,  and  galloped  towards  Charlestown 
Neck,  and  then  pushed  for  the  Medford  road. 
The  one  who  chased  me,  endeavoring  to  cut 


96  THE    BATTLE    OF    LEXINGTON. 

me  off,  got  into  a  clay  pond.  ...  I  got  clear 
of  him,  and  went  through  Medford,  over  the 
bridge  and  up  to  Menotomy  [Arlington].  In 
Medford  I  awaked  the  captain  of  the  minute- 
men,  and  after  that  I  alarmed  almost  every 
house  until  I  got  to  Lexington." 

Hancock  and  Adams  were  at  the  house  of 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Clark,  on  the  old  Bedford  road, 
now  Hancock  Street. 

Up  through  the  Lexington  streets  Revere 
clattered,  and  drew  rein  before  the  minister's 
door.  A  sergeant  was  on  guard  in  front  of 
the  house ;  Hancock  and  Adams  were  asleep 
within. 

"  Hush !  "  said  the  sergeant  to  Revere. 
"  Don't  make  so  much  noise ;  you  will  awaken 
the  family." 

"  Noise  !  "  shouted  Revere.  "  You'll  have 
noise  enough  before  morning;  the  Regulars 
are  coming !  " 

"  Is  that  you,  Revere  ?  "  said  Hancock,  thrust- 
ing his  head  out  of  the  window.  "  Come  in. 
We  know  you  !  " 


THE    BATTLE    OF    LEXINGTON.  97 

Revere  went  in.  When  he  had  delivered  his 
message,  John  Hancock  fell  to  cleaning  his 
gun,  declaring  that  he  would  take  part  with  the 
militia.  Samuel  Adams,  however,  always  wise 
and  far-seeing,  laid  a  restraining  hand  upon 
Hancock's  arm. 

"  That  is  not  for  us,"  he  said ;  "  we  belong  to 
the  cabinet." 

Hancock's  aunt,  and  Dorothy  Quincy,  whom 
Hancock  was  to  marry,  were  in  the  house. 
They  added  their  entreaties,  and  it  was  decided 
that  the  two  patriots  should  leave  Lexington 
and  go  to  a  place  of  greater  safety  in  Woburn. 

Another  messenger  arrived  while  Revere  was 
resting  at  Mr.  Clark's.  Warren,  knowing  the 
risks  that  Revere  ran,  had  sent  William  Dawes 
out  over  the  Neck,  hoping  that  if  one  failed, 
the  other  might  succeed. 

Revere  and  Dawes  refreshed  themselves  with 
food,  and  sprang  into  their  saddles  again,  to 
carry  the  alarm  to  Concord. 

A  young  physician,  a  Concord  man,  whom 
they  overtook,  joined  them,  and  all  were  intent 


98  THE    BATTLE    OF    LEXINGTON. 

on  awakening  the  inmates  of  the  houses  by  the 
way,  when  Revere  discovered  four  more  British 
officers  lying  in  wait  for  them. 

Spurring  out  from  the  trees  by  the  roadside, 
these  officers  forced  Revere  and  his  compan- 
ions into  a  pasture.  Here  there  was  a  hot 
chase.  The  doctor  succeeded  in  jumping  his 
horse  over  a  low  stone  wall,  and  got  to  Con- 
cord ;  but  Revere,  seeing  a  piece  of  woods  at 
a  distance,  unluckily  made  for  that.  He  had 
nearly  reached  it,  and  thought  himself  safe, 
when  out  started  six  other  officers,  who  sur- 
rounded him. 

"  Where  do  you  come  from  ? "  demanded 
one. 

"  From  Boston,"  answered  Revere. 

"  What  is  your  name  ?  " 

"  Paul  Revere." 

"  Are  you  an  express  [a  special  messen- 
ger]  ? " 

"  I  am." 

"  What  time  did  you  leave  Boston  ?  " 

"  I  told  him,"  says  Revere,  "  and  added,  that 


THE    BATTLE    OF    LEXINGTON.  99 

.  .  .  there  would  be  five  hundred  Americans 
there  in  a  short  time,  for  I  had  alarmed  the 
country  all  the  way  up." 

The  two  parties  of  officers  then  united. 
Revere  was  bidden  mount  his  horse  again,  and 
all  together  they  moved  toward  Lexington, 
Revere  being  assured  that  he  should  be  shot 
at  the  first  attempt  to  break  away. 

Thus  they  rode  until  they  neared  the  Lex- 
ington meeting-house,  when  the  sound  of  a 
volley  of  guns  startled  them. 

In  front  of  the  meeting-house,  on  the  Com- 
mon, were  Captain  Parker  and  his  men.  They 
had  assembled  at  the  first  alarm,  and  were 
determined  to  show  the  English  soldiers  that 
American  farmers,  if  need  be,  could  fight  for 
the  welfare  of  their  homes.  But  the  soldiers 
were  still  far  away.  Captain  Parker  advised 
his  men  to  separate  and  rest,  —  to  sleep,  if  they 
could,  —  until  called  together  again.  They 
fired  a  volley  and  parted. 

It  was  this  volley  which  had  startled  the  offi- 
cers who  were  approaching  with  Revere.  They 


100       THE  BATTLE  OF  LEXINGTON. 

anxiously  asked  if  there  were  no  other  road  to 
Boston.  They  must  rejoin  the  army,  they  said, 
with  all  possible  speed. 

But  the  sergeant's  horse  was  tired,  and  un- 
equal to  the  journey. 

"  Take  that  man's  horse,"  commanded  the 
major  briefly,  pointing  to  the  one  Revere  rode. 

In  a  twinkling  Revere  was  off,  the  sergeant 
on;  and  the  good  horse  that  had  carried  the 
alarm  so  swiftly  and  safely  throughout  the  night 
dashed  off  with  the  rest  of  the  king's  steeds, 
turned  Tory  against  his  will. 

Revere  was  left  standing  alone.  Taking 
a  short  cut  across  the  burying-ground  and 
meadows,  he  went  back  to  Mr.  Clark's  house, 
to  assist  in  getting  Hancock  and  Adams  to  a 
place  of  safety. 


THE    BATTLE    OF    LEXINGTON.  IOI 


II. 

THE  MARCH  OF  THE  BRITISH. 

While  Paul  Revere  was  rowing  over  to 
Charlestown,  the  British  entered  their  boats 
at  the  foot  of  the  Common  and  embarked  for 
Cambridge. 

By  the  time  that  he  was  spurring  over 
Charlestown  Neck,  they  must  have  been  just 
leaving  the  marshes  near  Phips's  Farm,  on 
Lechmere's  Point,  their  landing-place. 

They  marched  on  in  silence,  —  Gage's  grena- 
diers and  light  infantry,  eight  or  nine  hundred 
in  all, — flattering  themselves  that  their  move- 
ment was  unknown. 

Suddenly  the  stillness  was  broken  by  the 
pealing  of  bells  and  the  firing  of  guns.  Their 
secret  was  out.  The  countryside  had  received 
the  alarm. 

The  British  commander,  Colonel  Smith,  sent 
back  to  Boston  for  re-enforcements,  and  bade 


IO2 


THE  BATTLE  OF  LEXINGTON. 


one  of  his  officers,  Major  Pitcairn,  push  rapidly 
on,  with  a  small  body  of  men,  to  Lexington. 


ROADS  TO  LEXINGTON. 

As   Pitcairn  advanced,  he  met  several  mes- 
sengers riding  down  the  road  from   Lexington 


THE    BATTLE    OF    LEXINGTON.  1 03 

to  gather  news  of  the  troops.  These  messen- 
gers he  captured,  one  after  another,  until  one, 
Thaddeus  Bowman,  eluded  the  soldiers,  and 
galloped  back  to  Lexington  with  the  news  that 
the  Regulars  were  close  at  hand. 


III. 

THE  SKIRMISH  AT  LEXINGTON. 

On  receiving  the  alarm  Captain  Parker  sum- 
moned his  men  by  the  beat  of  the  drum  and 
drew  them  up  again  upon  the  Common.  He 
was  resolved  not  to  "  meddle  or  make  with  the 
Regulars "  unless  they  molested  him ;  but  if 
they  did  molest  him,  he  knew  what  he  should 
do.  As  he  waited  in  the  gray  morning  light, 
he  ordered  his  men  to  load  their  pieces  with 
powder  and  ball,  and  said  to  them,  "  Don't  fire 
unless  fired  upon ;  but  if  they  mean  to  have  a 
war,  let  it  begin  here  !  " 

It  was  to  begin  there.  Major  Pitcairn,  first 
allowing  Colonel  Smith  to  overtake  him, 


ic>4 


THE    BATTLE    OF    LEXINGTON. 


marched  directly  upon  the  little  band  of  sev- 
enty, who,  with  about  as  many  more  of  their 
townsmen,  stood  resolutely  facing  him.  "  Ye 
villains,  ye  rebels,  disperse ! "  cried  Pitcairn, 
loudly.  "  Lay  down  your  arms !  Why  don't 
you  lay  down  your  arms,  and  disperse  ?  " 


LEXINGTON   COMMON   AND    MEETING-HOUSE. 

A  gun  was  fired,  —  probably  a  British  gun. 
More  shots  followed.  The  Americans  returned 
the  fire ;  but  when  the  British  were  seen  to 
be  moving  around  both  sides  of  the  meeting- 


THE    BATTLE    OF    LEXINGTON.  105 

house,  as  if  to  surround  the  Provincials,  Cap- 
tain Parker  himself  called,  "  Disperse  !  and 
take  care  of  yourselves ! "  and  slowly,  still  fir- 
ing, his  men  retired. 

Eight  of  their  number  lay  dead  upon  the 
ground ;  ten  more  were  wounded.  Major  Pit- 
cairn's  horse  was  shot  under  him,  and  two  of 
his  soldiers  had  received  slight  wounds. 

The  British,  as  the  last  of  the  militia  van- 
ished, formed  on  the  Common,  fired  a  volley, 
gave  three  cheers  in  sign  of  victory,  and 
marched  on  for  Concord. 


IV. 
THE  CONCORD  FIGHT. 

It  was  about  seven  o'clock  when  the  soldiers 
came  over  the  hill  at  the  entrance  of  the  town 
of  Concord.  The  spring  was  early.  On  this 
April  morning  fruit-trees  were  in  bloom,  and 
fields  were  green  with  inch-high  grain. 

The  Concord  men  had  worked  all  night  at 


106       THE  BATTLE  OF  LEXINGTON. 

removing  or  concealing  the  stores.  Much  of 
the  food  had  been  carried  to  other  towns; 
several  of  the  cannon  had  been  dragged  away, 
or  hidden  in  the  woods. 


THE   NORTH    BRIDGE. 


The  British,  however,  found  about  sixty  bar- 
rels of  flour,  which  they  split  open ;  some 
wooden  spoons  and  trenchers,  which  they 
burned ;  three  cannon,  the  trunnions  of  which 
they  knocked  off;  and  about  five  hundred 


THE    BATTLE    OF    LEXINGTON.  1 07 

pounds  of  balls,  which  they  threw  into  the 
mill-pond  and  the  wells.  Besides  this,  they 
cut  down  the  liberty-pole,  and  set  the  Court 
House  on  fire.  The  flames  of  the  latter,  how- 
ever, were  soon  quenched. 

A  party  of  two  hundred  soldiers,  guided  by 
De  Berniere,  set  off  for  Colonel  Barrett's  house, 
where  more  stores  were  thought  to  be  kept. 
Colonel  Barrett's  house  was  on  the  other  side 
of  the  Concord  River,  across  what  was  known 
as  the  North  Bridge.  Half  of  the  party  halted 
at  the  bridge,  and  remained  to  guard  it  while 
the  rest  went  on  to  search  the  house.  The 
search  did  not  prosper.  Some  casks  of  mus- 
ket-balls, cartridges,  and  flints  were  in  the 
attic ;  but  the  colonel's  wife  had  covered  them 
with  a  huge  heap  of  feathers,  and  they  were 
not  discovered.  While  the  soldiers  were  burn- 
ing the  wheels  of  some  gun-carriages  in  the 
yard,  they  heard  the  sound  of  firing,  and  hur- 
ried back  to  the  bridge. 

The  guard  at  the  bridge  had  been  seen  by 
the  Provincial  militia,  assembled  on  a  neigh- 


108       THE  BATTLE  OF  LEXINGTON. 

boring  hill.  After  holding  a  short  council  the 
militia  had  decided  to  dislodge  the  guard. 

"  I  haven't  a  man  that  is  afraid  to  go,"  said 
Captain  Isaac  Davis,  and  down  the  hill  with 
Colonel  Robinson  and  Major  Buttrick  he 
marched  to  make  the  attack. 

When  the  soldiers  of  the  guard  saw  the 
militia  coming,  they  took  their  stand  on  the 
side  of  the  river  nearest  the  town,  and  began 
to  pull  up  the  planks  of  the  bridge. 

Major  Buttrick,  quickening  his  pace,  called 
to  them  to  stop.  They  did  not  stop  until  the 
Americans  were  quite  near  them.  Then  they 
stopped  to  fire. 

With  the  discharge  of  the  guns  Captain 
Davis  fell.  Another  of  the  Americans  was 
killed  ;  several  were  wounded. 

"  Fire,  fellow-soldiers,  fire !  "  shouted  Major 
Buttrick. 

They  fired,  killing  two  of  the  British,  and 
wounding  others.  The  guard,  outnumbered, 
retired;  and  their  friends,  coming  back  from 
Colonel  Barrett's,  found  the  bridge  deserted, 


i  *m& P ;; 


THE    BATTLE    OF    LEXINGTON.  I  I  I 

their  comrades  gone  to  rejoin.  Colonel  Smith 
in  the  centre  of  the  town,  and  the  Provincials 
withdrawn  again  to  their  hill-top.  The  second 
detachment  crossed  the  disputed  planks  un- 
pursued,  and  marched  back  to  the  main  body 
in  safety. 

V. 

THE  RETREAT  OF  THE  BRITISH. 

It  was  twelve  o'clock  before  the  English 
troops  set  off  upon  their  return  to  Boston. 
By  that  time  the  roadsides  were  lined  with 
minute-men  and  militia  from  all  the  neighbor- 
ing towns.  Crouching  behind  stone  walls  or 
dodging  from  tree  to  tree,  the  Americans  fired 
incessantly  upon  the  British,  whose  flankers 
tried  in  vain  to  protect  the  main  body. 

At  every  turn  of  the  road  fresh  companies 
came  to  swell  the  numbers  of  the  Provincials. 
The  fire  grew  hotter  and  hotter,  while  the 
fatigue  of  the  Regulars  increased  with  every 
mile. 


I  I  2  THE    BATTLE    OF    LEXINGTON. 

At  Lexington  the  troops,  despairing  and 
panic-stricken,  broke  into  a  disorderly  run. 
The  officers  were  obliged  to  throw  themselves 
in  front  of  the  scattered  ranks  and  to  threaten 
death  to  any  man  who  tried  to  pass.  Order 
was,  in  this  way,  partially  restored ;  and  the 
march  had  begun  again,  when,  to  the  great 
relief  of  officers  and  men,  re-enforcements  under 
Lord  Percy  appeared. 

The  troops  could  not  have  held  out  much 
longer.  Percy  was  just  in  time  to  prevent 
a  complete  surrender.  His  brigade  formed  a 
hollow  square  around  the  exhausted  regiments ; 
his  field-pieces  held  the  Provincials  in  check. 
Smith's  tired  men  flung  themselves  on  the 
ground,  their  tongues  hanging  out  of  their 
mouths,  like  the  tongues  of  panting  dogs. 

The  rest  could  not  be  a  long  one.  At  the 
end  of  half  an  hour  arms  were  again  taken  up, 
and  the  whole  turmoil  swept  on. 

In  Menotomy  a  sharp  conflict  occurred. 
Warren,  who  took  part  in  it,  had  a  pin  struck 
out  of  his"  ear-lock  by  a  musket-ball.  He  had 


THE    BATTLE    OF    LEXINGTON.  I  1 3 

left  Boston  in  the  morning,  saying  to  a  friend, 
"  Keep  up  a  brave  heart !  They  have  begun 
it  —  that  either  party  can  do;  and  we'll  end  it 
—  that  only  one  can  do !  " 

The  Charlestown  folk  all  through  the  after- 
noon had  heard  the  approaching  guns.  At 
sunset  they  saw  the  dust  and  smoke  of  the 
battle  drawing  nearer  to  their  homes.  Ameri- 
can messengers  came  post-haste  into  town  with 
dreadful  tales  of  British  cruelties.  The  troops, 
maddened  by  their  helpless  situation,  had  re- 
venged themselves  by  burning  the  houses  along 
their  track,  and  had  killed  some  of  the  harm- 
less inmates.  The  people  of  the  town,  in  terror, 
fled  out  over  the  Neck,  and  took  refuge  where 
they  could. 

Down  the  road  and  into  the  streets  of 
Charlestown  came  the  hunted  soldiers,  flying 
in  wild  confusion  from  the  stinging  rain  of 
bullets.  They  asked  for  shelter.  The  select- 
men agreed  to  prevent  farther  pursuit ;  and 
Percy,  on  his  side,  promised  that  his  men 
should  not  in  any  way  harm  the  town. 


I  1 4  THE    BATTLE    OF    LEXINGTON. 

The  Americans  contented  themselves  with 
setting  a  guard  on  Charlestown  Neck,  while 
the  British  soldiers,  undisturbed,  encamped  on 
the  Charlestown  hills,  and  on  the  next  day 
crossed  to  Boston. 

The  battle  of  Lexington  opened  the  War  of 
the  Revolution. 


THE   BATTLE   OF   BUNKER   HILL. 
JUNE  17,  1775. 

I. 
THE  ARMY  AT  CAMBRIDGE. 

THE  news  of  the  battle  of  Lexington  spread 
as  fast  as  hoofs  could  carry  it,  and  in  answer 
to  the  intelligence  the  colonies  sprang  to  arms. 

All  day  and  all  night,  and  for  several  days 
and  nights,  the  tramp  of  the  militia  sounded 
along  roads  leading  to  Cambridge ;  for  Cam- 
bridge was  to  be  headquarters  for  the  Ameri- 
can army. 

Not  a  moment  was  lost  in  obeying  the  sum- 
mons. The  New  Hampshire  veteran,  Colonel 
Stark,  was  in  his  saddle  ten  minutes  after  hear- 
ing of  the  fight.  Putnam,  who  lived  a  hun- 
dred miles  away,  reached  Cambridge  in  twenty- 
four  hours.  He  was  at  work  on  his  farm,  when 
a  horseman  galloped  furiously  down  the  road 

"5 


Il6  THE    BATTLE    OF    BUNKER    HILL. 

bringing  tidings  of  the  battle;  and  without 
stopping  to  lay  aside  his  farmer's  dress,  "  Old 
Put "  leaped  upon  his  fastest  horse  and  dashed 
off  to  join  General  Heath,  General  Pomeroy, 
and  General  Ward. 

Meanwhile  Gage  and  his  soldiers  were 
closely  cooped  in  Boston.  They  dared  not 
venture  out  to  scatter  the  forces  at  Cambridge, 
for  the  Provincials  greatly  outnumbered  them, 
and  no  one  cared  to  have  that  April  chase 
repeated. 

But  re-enforcements  were  already  crossing 
the  ocean.  On  the  25th  of  May  three  British 
generals,  Howe,  Clinton,  and  Burgoyne,  —  "the 
three  bow-wows,"  people  called  them,  —  arrived 
with  more  troops. 

Gage  was  now  in  the  best  of  spirits,  and  so 
sure  of  victory  that  he  offered  to  pardon  all 
rebels  who  would  return  to  their  loyalty  to  the 
king,  —  all,  that  is,  excepting  John  Hancock 
and  Samuel  Adams.  Pardon,  however,  was 
not  what  the  Americans  desired. 

Ten  thousand  men  were  assembled  in  Cam- 


GENERAL   PUTNAM. 


THE    BATTLE    OF    BUNKER    HILL.  IIQ 

bridge.     They  were  determined  to  prevent  the 
British  from  marching  out  again. 

On  the  other  hand,  Burgoyne  had  said  be- 
fore leaving  his  vessel,  "  What !  ten  thousand 
peasants  keep  five  thousand  king's  troops  shut 
up !  Well !  let  us  get  in,  and  we'll  soon  find 
elbow-room !  " 


II. 

THE  FORTIFICATION  OF  BREED'S  HILL. 

To  get  their  elbow-room,  the  British  decided 
to  seize  and  fortify  Dorchester  Heights  and 
the  hills  of  Charlestown.  But  when  their 
plans  were  made  known  to  the  Americans, 
as  Gage's  plans  usually  were,  the  Americans 
agreed  that  they  themselves  should  fortify 
those  heights  and  hills. 

Putnam  had  long  been  urging  it.  Warren 
was  doubtful.  Once,  when  the  two  were  talk- 
ing about  it  together,  Warren  rose  and  walked 
two  or  three  times  across  the  room.  "  Almost 


I2O 


THE    BATTLE    OF    BUNKER    HILL. 


\ 


thou  persuades!  me,"  he  said  at 
last  to  Putnam ;  "  but  I  must  still 
think  the  project  a  rash  one. 
Nevertheless,  if  the  project  be 
adopted  and  the  strife  becomes 
hard,  you  must  not  be  surprised 
to  find  me  in  the  midst  of  it." 

The  night  of  the  i6th  of  June 
was  appointed  for  the  work  of 
building  a  fort  on  Bunker  Hill. 
At  nine  o'clock  that  evening  a 
party  of  twelve  hundred  men  set 
off  from  Cambridge  for  Charles- 
town. 

Through  the  wooded  country 
roads  they  marched,  the  brave 
Colonel  Prescott  and  two  ser- 
geants with  dark-lanterns  leading 
them,  until  they  arrived  upon  the 
open  pastures  of  Bunker  Hill. 
There  a  consultation  was  held. 
The  next  summit,  on  Breed's  farm, 
seemed  to  them  a  more  promising 


=      BB5T0N 

i-stat*rrorm,rjyicinystr.<*t)  WITH  ITS. ENVIRONS 

a.OldSvuthMrilinowInu*'  — J  N-  / 


REFERENCES. 
/,  State  (f 


122  THE    BATTLE    OF    BUNKER    HILL. 

place  for  their  works ;  so  to  Breed's  Hill  they 
went,  and  while  some  were  sent  down  to  the 
water's  edge  to  note  any  movement  on  board 
the  British  man-of-war  anchored  in  the  stream, 
the  rest  threw  off  their  packs,  seized  their 
intrenching-tools,  and  began  to  dig. 

Throughout  the  night  the  men  on  the  hill 
sank  their  trenches  and  piled  up  the  earthen 
embankments,  while  the  guard  upon  the  shore 
listened  for  the  call  of  the  watch  on  the  vessel 
and  the  distant  cry  of  the  Boston  sentinel. 

"  Twelve  o'clock,  and  all's  well ! "  floated  to 
them  from  the  deck  of  the  war-ship.  "  Twelve 
o'clock,  and  all  is  well !  "  sounded  again  faintly 
from  the  Boston  side. 

One,  two,  and  three  o'clock  were  called  and 
echoed  thus  ;  but  at  daybreak  the  thunder  of 
a  gun  from  the  Lively  came  instead.  The 
works  were  discovered. 

The  battery  on  Copp's  Hill  now  opened  fire 
upon  them.  Its  shells  came  singing  through 
the  air  and  ploughed  great  furrows  in  the  grass. 
One  of  the  soldiers,  venturing  outside  the  de- 


THE    BATTLE    OF    BUNKER    HILL.  123 

fences,  was  killed.  At  the  unwonted  sight  his 
comrades  blanched  and  paused  ;  but  Prescott, 
mounting  the  parapet,  walked  coolly  around 
the  works,  and  his  men,  inspired  by  his  cour- 
age, regained  their  own. 

"  Who  is  that  ? "  asked  Gage,  looking  at  him 
through  a  glass  in  Boston. 

"  William  Prescott,"  was  the  reply. 

"  Will  he  fight  ?  "  queried  the  general. 

"  Yes,  sir ;  he  is  an  old  soldier,  and  will  fight 
to  the  last  drop  of  his  blood." 

"  The  works  must  be  carried,"  said  Gage. 

Clinton  advised  attacking  the  works  in  the 
rear,  but  Gage  preferred  a  front  attack.  He 
ordered  two  thousand  men  under  General  Howe 
to  row  to  Moulton's  Point.  Moulton's  Point 
is  now  within  the  Charlestown  Navy  Yard. 
General  Pigot  was  to  follow  with  more  troops. 

The  scarlet  uniforms,  massed  on  Long 
Wharf  or  embarked  in  the  little  boats  upon 
the  sparkling  water,  were  a  brilliant  and  a 
formidable  spectacle,  but  the  Americans  did 
not  stop  to  admire  or  to  fear.  They  were 


I24 


THE    BATTLE    OF    BUNKER    HILL. 


digging,  digging  still;    tired   and   hungry,  but 
full  of  courage  and  hope. 

It  was  long   past   noon   before    Howe   and 


Very  deep  hollow  way. 


PLAN    OF  THE   REDOUBT. 


Pigot  were  ready  to  move  up  the  hill.  By  that 
time  the  Provincials  had  roughly  finished  the 
central  fortification,  a  redoubt,  with  a  breast- 
work running  from  its  northeast  corner.  Be- 


THE    BATTLE    OF    BUNKER    HILL.  125 

sides  this,  Putnam  had  begun  to  make  use  of  a 
stone  wall,  surmounted  by  a  rail  fence.  He 
ordered  his  men  to  fetch  other  rails,  to  place 
them  behind  the  first,  and  to  fill  the  space 
between  with  the  new-mown  hay  which  lay 
upon  the  field.  Stark,  coming  up  with  his 
New  Hampshire  regiment  and  some  Connecti- 
cut troops,  finished  the  line  of  fence,  and  took 
his  stand  behind  the  hay. 

At  two  o'clock  Warren  arrived.  Although 
he  had  not  fully  approved  of  the  plan  to  fortify 
Charlestown,  he  was  ready,  as  he  had  said  he 
would  be,  to  fight  in  defence  of  the  works. 

A  friend  had  tried  to  persuade  him  that  he 
was  wrong  in  risking  his  life  at  a  time  when 
his  counsel  was  so  much  needed ;  but  Warren 
had  replied,  "  Dulce  et  decorum  est  pro  patria 
morif"  "Sweet  and  fitting  it  is  to  die  for  one's 
country !  " 

Putnam  offered  Warren  the  post  of  command 
at  the  Tail  fence. 

"  I  am  here  only  as  a  volunteer,"  Warren 
replied.  "  Where  can  I  be  most  useful  ?  " 


126  THE    BATTLE    OF    BUNKER    HILL. 

"  You  will  be  under  cover  there,"  suggested 
Putnam,  pointing  to  the  redoubt. 

"  Don't  think  I  seek  a  place  of  safety,"  War- 
ren urged.  "  Where  will  the  attack  be  hottest  ? " 

"  That,"  said  Putnam,  still  pointing  to  the 
redoubt,  "  is  the  enemy's  object.  If  that  can 
be  maintained,  the  day  is  ours." 

Warren  went  to  the  redoubt.  The  men 
there,  although  disappointed  that  no  detach- 
ment had  come  from  Cambridge  to  assist  them, 
took  heart  again  on  seeing  him,  and  stopped 
their  work  to  cheer.  Prescott  asked  if  he 
would  give  them  orders. 

Warren  again  insisted  that  he  was  but  a  vol- 
unteer. "  I  shall  take  no  command  here,"  he 
said.  "  I  came  to  serve  under  you,  and  shall 
be  happy  to  learn  from  a  soldier  of  your  expe- 
rience." 

At  a  little  after  three,  Pigot's  men,  firing  as 
they  went,  marched  slowly  up  the  hill.  They 
pushed  forward  toward  the  left  of  the  redoubt. 
Howe  at  the  same  time  advanced  on  the  right, 
toward  the  rail  fence. 


PLAN    OF  CHARLESTOWN. 


128  THE    BATTLE    OF    BUNKER    HILL. 

The  Americans  had  been  cautioned  to  hold 
their  fire.  "  Don't  fire  till  you  see  the  whites  of 
their  eyes,"  was  the  command  along  their  line. 

"  The  Redcoats  will  never  reach  the  redoubt, 
if  you  obey  me,"  said  Prescott.  And  when  some 
of  his  men  aimed  their  pieces  to  return  Pigot's 
fire,  the  resolute  officer  ran  around  the  top  of 
the  parapet  and  kicked  up  their  guns. 

On  came  the  English  troops.  When  they 
were  about  eight  rods  from  the  redoubt,  the 
Americans'  fire  was  loosed.  It  cut  down  the 
soldiers  in  dreadful  rows.  Amazed  and  stag- 
gered, the  British  ranks  broke  and  fell  away, 
in  a  panic,  to  the  foot  of  the  hill. 

Prescott  praised  his  men.  They  were  wild 
with  joy.  But  the  British  were  forming  again ; 
the  redoubt  must  have  re-enforcements.  Put- 
nam hastened  to  the  Neck.  There,  at  the 
other  end  of  the  narrow  strip  of  land,  were 
the  regiments  despatched  by  Ward;  but  the 
Neck  was  under  fire  of  the  gunboats  and  was 
raked  by  shot  and  shell.  Only  a  few  com- 
panies would  venture  across. 


THE    BATTLE    OF    BUNKER    HILL.  1 29 

Burgoyne,  from  Copp's  Hill,  now  sent  a  red- 
hot  shower  upon  the  Charlestown  roofs.  The 
town  blazed  instantly;  and  while  dense  clouds 
of  smoke  rolled  overhead,  Howe  again  moved 
upon  the  defences. 

Again  the  Americans  waited  in  silence ; 
again  their  fatal  fire  leaped  out.  For  a  second 
time  the  British  fell  back  and  scattered.  Some 
of  the  soldiers  rushed  into  the  boats  to  put  the 
river  between  them  and  that  deadly  hail. 

For  some  time  now  there  was  a  lull.  The 
aid  which  the  Americans  expected  from  Cam- 
bridge did  not  come.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
British  were  supported  by  the  presence  of  Gen- 
eral Clinton,  who,  seeing  how  badly  the  battle 
was  going,  had  crossed  to  Charlestown  with  a 
fresh  supply  of  men. 

Clinton  saw  that  the  north  end  of  the  breast- 
work was  the  weakest  point.  He  determined 
to  assail  the  Americans  there,  and  to  carry  the 
redoubt  by  the  bayonet. 

For  the  third  time  the  Regulars  marched 
steadily  up  the  hill.  The  Americans  fired  as 


130  THE    BATTLE    OF    BUNKER    HILL. 

before,  but  the  firing  was  feeble.  Their  ammu- 
nition was  gone. 

When  the  British  discovered  this,  they  pressed 
on  and  began  to  climb  the  walls  of  the  redoubt. 
Pitcairn  attempted  to  enter,  but  fell,  mortally 
wounded,  and  was  borne  away  by  his  son.  A 
soldier  swung  himself  into  the  enclosure  by 
means  of  a  tree  near  its  edge.  One  after 
another  his  companions  crowded  in.  A  short 
hand-to-hand  struggle  ensued.  Then  Prescott 
gave  the  order  to  retire,  and  himself  moving 
backward,  "stepping  long,"  gave  up  the  day. 

The  men  at  the  rail  fence  covered  the  re- 
treat of  their  friends  and  then  followed  them. 
Warren  lay  dead  upon  the  field.  He  was  one 
of  the  last  to  leave  the  redoubt.  As  he  retired 
a  ball  struck  him;  and  he  fell,  making  good  his 
words,  "  It  is  sweet  and  fitting  to  die  for  one's 
country." 

Prescott,  beside  himself  with  chagrin  at  the 
defeat,  presented  himself  before  General  Ward 
and  demanded  fresh  troops,  saying  that  he 
must  go  back  and  recover  the  works.  His 


THE    BATTLE    OF    BUNKER    HILL.  13! 

request  was  not  granted.  He  had,  indeed, 
covered  himself  with  glory,  and  the  country 
learned  to  be  proud  of  the  battle  at  which  the 
British  gained  such  a  hardly  won  victory. 


WASHINGTON. 

ONE  cause  of  the  defeat  in  the  battle  of 
Bunker  Hill  was  the  confusion  and  lack  of  dis- 
cipline in  the  American  forces.  In  fact,  after 
the  battle  of  Lexington  every  one  saw  that 
the  Americans  must  have  a  commander-in-chief 
for  their  army. 

When  Congress,  the  second  general  Con- 
gress, met  at  Philadelphia,  in  May,  1775,  it 
took  up  this  important  matter.  John  Adams 
had  in  mind  a  man  whom  he  thought  all 
would  unite  in  choosing.  He  arose  to  propose 
him. 

"  There  is,"  he  said,  "  but  one  gentleman 
whom  I  should  like  to  see  in  that  position." 
At  this  Mr.  Hancock  was  all  smiles,  for  he,  too, 
knew  of  but  one  gentleman  whom  he  would 
like  to  see  in  that  position ;  and  he  thought 
that  Mr.  Adams  agreed  with  him. 
132 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 


WASHINGTON.  1 35 

"  He  is,"  continued  Mr.  Adams,  "  a  gentle- 
man from  Virginia,"  —  here  Mr.  Hancock's 
countenance  fell,  —  "a  gentleman  whose  skill 
and  experience  as  an  officer,  whose  indepen- 
dent fortune,  great  talents,  and  universal  char- 
acter would  command  the  approbation  of  all 
America." 

Of  course  this  was  not  Mr.  Hancock,  but 
George  Washington. 

Congress  offered  Washington  the  command, 
and  he  accepted  it,  refusing,  however,  any  pay- 
ment for  his  services,  and  saying  that  if  his 
mere  expenses  could  be  provided  for,  he  should 
be  quite  content. 

Mr.  Adams  was  right  as  to  Washington's 
skill  and  experience  as  an  officer.  He  had 
been  a  colonel  in  the  French  War,  and  his 
exploits  had  won  him  golden  opinions.  What- 
ever he  undertook  was  well  performed ;  his 
early  work  as  a  surveyor  was  so  accurate  that 
it  has  never  had  to  be  done  over  again. 

An  aptness  for  soldiering  showed  itself  even 
in  his  childhood.  When  only  ten  years  old,  he 


136  WASHINGTON. 

used  to  gather  his  playmates  in  squads,  drill 
them,  parade  with  them,  and  marshal  them 
through  mock  battles.  There  are  several  stories 
of  his  childhood,  one  of  which  we  may,  per- 
haps, still  venture  to  repeat.  Washington's 
mother  owned  some  fine  colts  of  which  she 
was  justly  proud.  One  of  these  colts,  a  sorrel, 
no  one  had  ever  been  able  to  tame.  Washing- 
ton was  determined  to  mount  him.  With  the 
help  of  some  of  his  young  friends,  he  succeeded 
in  getting  a  bit  into  the  mouth  of  the  really 
wild  and  vicious  creature,  and  then  leaped  upon 
his  back.  The  sorrel  ran,  bolted,  kicked,  and 
tried  every  means  of  throwing  his  rider.  Finally, 
rearing  and  plunging  in  a  last  desperate  effort 
to  free  himself,  he  fell  to  the  ground.  Wash- 
ington sprang  off,  but  the  sorrel  did  not  rise 
again.  He  was  dead. 

The  boys  looked  at  each  other  in  dismay. 
Madam  Washington  was  strict  in  the  govern- 
ment of  her  household.  What  would  she  say 
to  them  ?  At  that  moment  they  were  called  in 
to  breakfast. 


WASHINGTON.  137 

"  Pray,  young  gentlemen,  have  you  seen  my 
colts  ? "  was  one  of  Madam  Washington's  first 
questions,  when  they  were  seated  at  the  table. 
"  My  favorite,  I  hear,  is  as  large  as  his  sire." 

"  Your  favorite,  the  sorrel,  is  dead,  madam," 
replied  Washington. 

"Dead!"  exclaimed  his  mother.  "Why, 
how  did  that  happen  ?  " 

"  The  sorrel,"  said  Washington,  "  has  long 
been  considered  unmanageable,  and  beyond 
the  power  of  man  to  back  or  ride.  This  morn- 
ing we  forced  a  bit  into  his  mouth.  I  backed 
him,  I  rode  him ;  and  in  a  desperate  struggle 
for  the  mastery,  he  fell  under  me,  and  died 
upon  the  spot." 

Madam  Washington's  cheek  flushed.  For  a 
moment  there  was  silence.  Then  she  said, 
quietly,  "  It  is  well :  while  I  regret  the  loss  of 
my  favorite,  I  rejoice  in  my  son,  who  always 
speaks  the  truth."  To  the  end  of  her  life  his 
mother  always  spoke  of  him  as  her  good  son, 
her  good  boy,  never  as  the  general  or  the 
President. 


1 38  WASHINGTON. 

Washington  set  off  for  Cambridge,  on  the 
2ist  of  June,  1775,  to  take  command  of  the 
American  army. 

He  had  not  proceeded  far  when  a  courier 
from  New  England  came  riding  toward  him. 
The  man  carried  despatches  for  Congress  and 
gave  Washington  his  first  information  of  the 
battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 

"  How  did  the  militia  act  ?  "  asked  Washing- 
ton. 

"  Bravely,"  was  the  reply.  "  They  stood  their 
ground,  endured  the  enemy's  fire,  reserved  their 
own,  and  then  gave  it  with  deadly  effect." 

Washington  was  satisfied.  "  The  liberties  of 
the  country  are  safe,"  he  said. 

Cambridge  was  reached  on  the  second  of  July. 
On  the  third,  Washington,  under  the  great  elm 
near  the  Cambridge  Common,  took  command 
of  the  army  and  reviewed  the  troops. 

The  soldiers,  assembled  from  different  sec- 
tions of  the  country,  were  variously  arrayed. 
Some  wore  the  uniform  in  which  they  had 
fought,  not  against  King  George,  but  for  him  ; 


WASHINGTON. 


139 


some  had  donned  the  buff  and  blue;  while  a 
few  of  the  farmers  shouldered  their  muskets  in 
plain  homespun  or  brown  jean. 


WASHINGTON    ELM. 


The  camp  was  as  unmilitary  in  appearance 
as  was  the  dress  of  its  occupants.  Home-made 
sail-cloth  tents  of  different  shapes  and  sizes 


I4O  WASHINGTON. 

dotted  the  Cambridge  fields.  Besides  these 
there  were  huts  of  stone  and  of  brick  and 
sheds  of  boards,  brush,  and  turf. 

Greene's  Rhode  Island  troops,  alone,  were 
well  equipped.  They  had  canvas  tents  like 
those  of  the  English  soldiers,  and,  moreover, 
they  maintained  camp  discipline. 

To  teach  camp  discipline  was  Washington's 
first  care.  Privates  and  officers  alike  were  un- 
used to  military  obedience.  The  men  had  to 
be  made  to  understand  that  they  could  not 
trudge  back  to  their  farms  when  the  memory 
of  their  crops  or  a  twinge  of  homesickness 
overcame  them ;  their  officers '  needed  to  learn 
to  lay  aside  their  jealousies  and  their  suspicion 
of  men  from  other  sections. 

Usually  the  camp  was  peaceful  enough,  but 
Irving  gives  the  following  amusing  account  of 
a  quarrel  which  Washington  had  to  settle. 

"  A  large  party  of  Virginia  riflemen,  who 
had  recently  arrived  in  camp,  were  strolling 
about  Cambridge,  and  viewing  the  collegiate 
buildings,  now  turned  into  barracks. 


WASHINGTON.  14! 

"  Their  half-Indian  equipments  and  fringed 
and  ruffled  hunting-garbs  provoked  the  merri- 
ment of  some  troops  from  Marblehead,  chiefly 
fishermen  and  sailors,  who  thought  nothing 
equal  to  the  round  jacket  and  trousers.  A 
bantering  ensued  between  them.  There  was 
snow  upon  the  ground,  and  snowballs  began 
to  fly  when  jokes  were  wanting. 

•"  The  parties  waxed  warm  with  the  contest. 
They  closed,  and  came  to  blows.  Both  sides 
were  re-enforced,  and  in  a  little  while,  at  least 
a  thousand  were  at  fisticuffs ;  and  there  was  a 
tumult  in  the  camp  worthy  of  the  days  of 
Homer.  '  At  this  juncture,'  writes  our  inform- 
ant, 'Washington  made  his  appearance, whether 
by  accident  or  design,  I  never  knew.  I  saw 
none  of  his  aids  with  him;  his  black  servant 
was  just  behind  him,  mounted.  He  threw 
the  bridle  of  his  own  horse  into  his  servant's 
hands,  sprang  from  his  seat,  rushed  into  the 
thickest  of  the  melee,  seized  two  tall,  brawny 
riflemen  by  the  throat,  keeping  them  at  arm's 
length,  talking  to  and  shaking  them.  .  .  .  The 


142  WASHINGTON. 

combatants  dispersed  in  all  directions ;  and  in 
less  than  three  minutes  none  remained  on  the 
ground  but  the  two  he  had  collared.' " 

Meanwhile  the  months  were  passing,  and 
Washington  had  not  attempted  to  drive  the 
British  out  of  Boston.  People  wondered  at  it, 
and  many  blamed  him. 

Washington  kept  his  own  counsel.  He 
would  not  have  had  the  British  guess  the  rea- 
son for  his  delay,  but  the  truth  was  that  he 
had  not  enough  powder  to  carry  him  through 
an  attack.  He  had  been  told  that  there  were 
three  hundred  barrels  of  it  on  hand.  This  was 
a  mistake.  There  had  been  three  hundred ; 
there  remained  only  thirty. 

Powder,  cannon,  mortars,  howitzers,  and  a 
supply  of  lead  and  flints  had  been  captured  by 
a  party  of  Americans  who  had  taken  posses- 
sion of  Ticonderoga,  a  fort  on  Lake  Champlain ; 
and  Washington  had  sent  Henry  Knox  thither 
to  fetch  the  needed  stores,  but  that  was  a  diffi- 
cult undertaking,  and  required  time,  for  this 
was  years  before  the  first  railroad  was  built, 


WASHINGTON. 


and  Knox  had  to  find  means  of  transport.  It 
was  not  until  January  that  he  could  write,  "  I 
have  made  forty-two  exceedingly  strong  sleds, 
and  have  provided  eighty  yoke  of  oxen  to  drag 


THE  CRAIGIE   HOUSE. 


them  as  far  as  Springfield,  where  I  shall  get 
fresh  cattle  to  take  them  to  camp." 

It  was  February  before  the  sledges  arrived 
in  Cambridge.  In  the  meantime  Washington 
established  himself  in  the  Craigie  House,  where 
his  wife  soon  joined  him ;  and  they  made  the 


144  WASHINGTON. 

winter  as  endurable  as  they  could  by  enter- 
taining the  American  officers  and  others  in  the 
general's  leisure  hours.  Moreover,  there  was 
plenty  of  work  for  his  soldiers,  for  the  shore 
and  hills  needed  to  be  fortified.  Under  Wash- 
ington's directions  a  line  of  defences,  eight  or 
nine  miles  long,  stretched  in  a  broken  semicircle 
from  Winter  Hill,  near  the  Mystic  River,  to 
Dorchester  Neck;  and  Boston,  with  the  British 
army  shut  up  in  it,  was  held  in  siege. 


THE   EVACUATION    OF   BOSTON. 

MARCH  17,  1776. 

WHILE  Washington  waited  for  ammunition 
the  British  in  Boston  fared  badly. 

Food  was  scarce  and  poor.  It  was  "  pork 
and  beans  one  day,  beans  and  pork  another." 
Even  in  Gage's  household  fresh  meat  was  sel- 
dom to  be  seen.  Putnam,  knowing  their  strait, 
sent  General  Gage's  wife  "  a  fine  quarter  of 
veal,"  for  which  he  received  "  a  very  polite  card 
of  thanks." 

In  October  Gage,  "the  mild  general,"  as  King 
George  called  him,  went  back  to  England,  and 
Howe  was  left  in  command  of  the  forces  in 
Boston.  Howe  would  probably  have  marched 
out  upon  the  Americans  in  Cambridge,  had  he 
guessed  their  lack  of  powder.  Washington's 
secrets,  however,  were  not,  like  General  Gage's, 
"furnished  with  wings,"  and  the  British  re- 
mained in  daily  expectation  of  an  attack. 

145 


146  THE    EVACUATION    OF    BOSTON. 

As  the  winter  wore  on,  fuel  failed.  Wood 
was  ten  dollars  a  cord,  —  an  enormous  price  in 
those  days.  Even  at  that  price  it  was  difficult 
to  find,  and  the  soldiers  were  ordered  to  pull 
down  the  older  houses  of  the  town  to  feed  the 
fires.  Governor  Winthrop's  house  was  torn  to 
the  ground,  and  the  buttonwoods  upon  his  land 
were  felled.  Many,  indeed,  were  the  trees  laid 
low  by  British  axes.  Liberty  Tree  the  Red- 
coats hewed  down  with  a  will.  It  was  to  them 
one  of  the  archrebels.  But  they  did  not  win 
over  it  a  bloodless  victory ;  for  a  soldier,  while 
climbing  out  upon  one  of  its  branches,  lost  his 
footing  and  was  killed. 

For  amusement,  the  officers  gave  grand  balls, 
which  the  daughters  of  Boston  Tories  were 
glad  to  attend ;  and  they  also  had  theatrical 
entertainments.  Burgoyne  himself  wrote  a 
play  which  was  performed  in  Faneuil  Hall. 

The  Old  South  Church  they  turned  into  a 
riding-school.  Its  pulpit  was  removed ;  many 
of  the  pews  were  split  up  for  firewood,  and  one, 
a  beautifully  carved  pew  belonging  to  Deacon 


THE    EVACUATION    OF    BOSTON.  147 

Hubbard,  was  used  for  a  pig-stye.  The  floor 
was  spread  with  gravel,  and  a  bar  was  put  up, 
four  feet  high,  near  the  Milk  Street  door.  Here 
the  young  officers  practised  leaping,  while  spec- 
tators watched  them  from  seats  provided  for 
them  in  the  eastern  gallery.  Numbers  of  books 
and  papers  stored  in  the  church  were  burned. 
It  was  believed  for  many  years  that  the  second 
volume  of  Governor  Winthrop's  journal  had 
been  thus  destroyed ;  but  years  after  it  was 
found,  safe  and  whole. 

By  the  latter  part  of  February,  however, 
Washington  was  able  to  give  the  British  in 
Boston  something  besides  riding  and  dancing 
and  acting  to  think  of ;  for  when  Knox's  eighty 
yoke  of  oxen,  with  their  fifty  cannon  and  other 
munitions  of  war,  came  plodding  into  the 
Cambridge  camp,  guns  were  mounted  upon 
the  batteries  and  part  of  the  precious  powder 
was  used  in  hinting  to  the  British,  by  means 
of  a  few  cannon-balls,  that  they  could  not  ex- 
pect to  occupy  Boston  much  longer. 

Washington  proceeded  to  force  them  out  by 


148 


THE    EVACUATION    OF    BOSTON. 


fortifying  Dorchester  Heights.  On  the  4th  of 
March  a  heavy  cannonading  from  the  Cam- 
bridge and  Roxbury  batteries  was  begun.  The 
British  thought  that  the  Americans  intended 

an  immediate  at- 
tack upon  the  town, 
but  they  were  mis- 
taken. The  firing 
was  merely  a  feint, 
and  was  kept  up 
for  the  purpose  of 
drowning  the  rum- 
bling of  a  long  line 
of  heavy  carts  that 
had  set  out  from 
Cambridge  and 
were  jolting  through  Roxbury  on  their  way  to 
the  Twin  Hills  on  Dorchester  Heights. 

Three  hundred  of  these  carts,  loaded  with 
fascines,  bundles  of  screwed  hay,  and  other 
materials  for  the  walls  of  the  forts,  were  sent 
from  Cambridge.  In  front  of  them  marched 
General  Thomas  with  twelve  hundred  armed 


BOSTON    AND   VICINITY,    SHOWING    DOR- 
CHESTER   HEIGHTS. 


THE  EVACUATION  OF  BOSTON.       149 

men,  and  eight  hundred  more  who  carried  in- 
trenching-tools.  They  proceeded  across  the 
bridge  over  the  Charles,  and  around  by  Dor- 
chester Neck  to  the  double  summit,  the  high 
land  near  the  eastern  end  of  the  peninsula. 
There  the  workers  divided ;  half  took  one,  half 
the  other,  crest. 

All  night  they  built  and  dug,  as  had  Pres- 
cott's  men  at  Bunker  Hill,  and  at  daybreak  the 
astonished  British  saw  two  fortresses  upon  the 
Heights. 

Howe,  looking  at  them  with  amazement,  ex- 
claimed, "  The  rebels  have  done  more  in  one 
night  than  my  whole  army  would  have  accom- 
plished in  a  month  !  " 

British  cannon  from  the  Boston  forts  now 
opened  fire  upon  the  works.  The  balls,  crash- 
ing and  bounding  about  the  walls,  were  scarcely 
heeded  by  the  men,  eagerly  building  on. 

Washington  rode  anxiously  about,  remind- 
ing the  troops  of  the  date,  the  5th  of  March. 
He  had  chosen  his  time,  knowing  that  his  sol- 
diers would  be  inspired  to  greater  exertions  by 


I5O  THE    EVACUATION    OF    BOSTON. 

the  memories  awakened  by  that  day.  Every- 
where he  was  answered  by  patriotic  cheers. 

He  had  expected  the  British  to  attack  the 
Heights  at  once,  and  Putnam  was  waiting  in 
Cambridge,  hoping  to  cross  the  Charles  and 
carry  Boston  in  the  absence  of  part  of  the  Brit- 
ish garrison. 

Howe  decided,  however,  to  make  a  night 
attack.  All  day  long  the  British  could  be  seen 
hurrying  hither  and  thither  about  the  streets, 
but  not  until  late  in  the  afternoon  did  they 
leave  the  wharves.  Toward  nightfall  a  portion 
of  them  entered  the  boats  and  rowed  to  Castle 
William,  to  be  joined  by  the  soldiers  there  in 
the  assault. 

But  with  the  night  came  a  furious  storm  of 
wind  and  rain.  The  surf  was  high,  and  the 
boats  and  transports  which  put  off  from  Castle 
Island  could  not  land  on  the  main  shore.  The 
storm  continued  through  the  following  day. 
By  the  time  it  had  ceased,  the  American  works 
were  too  strong  to  be  successfully  assailed. 
Howe  and  Percy  gave  up  all  hope  of  being 


THE    EVACUATION    OF    BOSTON.  151 

able  to  overcome  them,  and  began  to  consider 
how  they  could  get  out  of  Boston  with  the 
least  damage  to  their  men  and  to  their  pride. 

The  Tories  of  the  town  were  informed  that 
if  the  British  troops  were  allowed  to  leave  in 
peace,  they  would  refrain  from  injuring  any 
property ;  but  that  if  the  American  army  threat- 
ened them  with  attack  or  pursuit,  Boston  should 
be  given  to  the  flames. 

The  inhabitants,  therefore,  prepared  a  paper, 
stating  the  case,  and  sent  it  under  a  flag  of 
truce  to  the  American  lines.  This  paper  was 
carried  to  Washington  at  Cambridge;  but  as  it 
bore  no  address,  Washington  would  not  return 
any  formal  answer.  He  did  order  the  firing  to 
cease,  however,  and  the  British,  understanding 
that  they  were  not  to  be  harassed,  slowly  began 
to  make  ready  for  departure. 

Still  the  days  went  by,  and  they  did  not 
go;  so  on  the  i6th  of  March  Washington 
erected  a  fortification  on  Nook's  Hill,  whence 
his  guns  could,  if  necessary,  thoroughly  rake 
the  town. 


152  THE    EVACUATION    OF    BOSTON. 

Then  there  was  haste  indeed.  On  the  i7th 
the  harbor  was  crowded  with  vessels.  Trans- 
ports and  men-of-war  lay  waiting  for  the  signal 
to  be  off ;  little  boats  pulled  out  to  them  from 
the  wharves,  bearing  their  loads  of  scarlet- 
coated  soldiers  ;  sailing-vessels  of  all  sorts,  bear- 
ing the  families  of  men  who  had  sided  with  the 
king,  hovered  anxiously  about,  ready  to  follow 
the  rest. 

Down  from  the  hill  in  Charlestown  marched 
the  British  guard  ;  but  the  redoubt  for  which 
they  had  fought  so  hard  was  not  wholly  emptied. 
A  number  of  faithful  sentinels  still  stood  with 
shouldered  muskets  within  the  earthen  walls. 

Surprised  that  any  should  linger  while  their 
comrades  pushed  out  into  the  stream,  a  party 
of  Americans,  partly  suspecting  a  trick,  cau- 
tiously approached  the  place.  The  sentinels 
did  not  move ;  they  were  simply  men  of 'Straw. 

Great  was  the  rejoicing  of  the  American 
army  when  the  last  Redcoat  vanished  from 
Boston  and  the  last  British  sail  passed  the 
Castle.  Patriot  troops  flocked  in  over  Rox- 


THE  EVACUATION  OF  BOSTON. 


153 


bury  Neck.  Everywhere  they  saw  signs  of  the 
long  and  hostile  occupation.  The  streets  were 
strewn  with  crows'  feet 
—  sharp  iron  prongs  — 
to  prevent  pursuit ;  the 
public  buildings  were  de- 
faced, and  many  of  the 
dwellings  ruined.  Sam- 
uel Adams's  house,  espe- 
cially, had  suffered.  He 
never  lived  in  it  again. 

The  country  now  rang 
with  praises  of  Washing- 
ton. Congress  passed  a 
unanimous  vote  of  thanks, 
and  ordered  a  large  gold 
medal  to  be  made  for  him 
in  commemoration  of  the 
evacuation  of  Boston. 

As  for  the  British  troops,  they  sailed  first  to 
Halifax,  and  then  to  New  York,  to  continue 
there  the  war  that  was  only  begun  in  Massa- 
chusetts, —  the  War  of  the  Revolution. 


THE   WASHINGTON    MEDAL. 


154  THE    EVACUATION    OF    BOSTON. 

On  the  4th  of  July  of  that  year,  1776,  inde- 
pendence was  declared.  It  was  then  that 
the  colonies  began  to  call  themselves  states 
and  that  Massachusetts  took  her  stand  as  a 
commonwealth.  Long  live  the  Commonwealth 
of  Massachusetts ! 


NOTES. 


THE  ENGLISH  COLONIES  IN  AMERICA. 

PAGES  1-8. 

Children  or  young  people  should  read  about  the  early 
settlements  of  America  in  some  short  history  of  the  United 
States,  like  Higginson's  or  Montgomery's. 

BOSTON  IN  1760. 

[See  The  Memorial  History  of  Boston,  Drake's  Old  Land- 
marks of  Boston,  etc.] 

The  Map  of  Old  Boston  is  the  Burgess  map,  with  some 
omissions  and  one  or  two  additional  names.  It  is  taken 
from  the  reprint  issued  by  the  Bostonian  Society.  The  key 
to  the  map  is  kindly  furnished  by  Mr.  William  Lawrence. 

PAGE  9. 

Boston  Streets.  A  curve  in  the  street  usually  indicates 
that  there  was  once  a  small  hill  to  be  avoided  in  that  place, 
or  a  marsh  to  be  skirted,  or  the  shore  line  to  be  followed. 
Drake,  on  p.  xix  of  his  Tea  Leaves  says  :  "  There  were 
no  sidewalks  in  the  town,  and,  except  when  driven  aside  by 
carts  or  carriages,  every  one  walked  in  the  middle  of  the 
streets,  '  where  the  pavement  was  the  smoothest.'  " 

'55 


156  NOTES. 

PAGE  10. 

The  Old  South  Church.  Winthrop's  house  and  garden, 
often  called  "The  Green,"  belonged,  after  Winthrop's  death, 
to  his  son  Stephen.  From  Stephen's  widow  it  passed  to 
John  Norton,  and  in  1677  Norton's  widow  gave  the  garden 
plot  to  some  seceding  members  of  the  old  First  Church. 
They  built  upon  it  a  meeting-house,  which,  standing  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  town,  was  spoken  of  as  the  South  Meet- 
ing-house, or,  later,  when  others  were  put  up  in  the  same 
general  neighborhood,  as  the  Old  South.  The  first  building 
was  of  wood ;  the  present  brick  building  was  put  up  in 
1729.  A  tablet  over  the  Washington  Street  door  bears  this 
inscription  :  — 

OLD  SOUTH. 
CHURCH  GATHERED,  1669. 
FIRST  HOUSE  BUILT,  1670. 
THIS  HOUSE  ERECTED,  1729. 
DESECRATED  BY  BRITISH  TROOPS,  1775-6. 

The  Town  House,  or  Old  State  House.  The  first  build- 
ing, finished  in  1659,  was  of  wood.  It  was  burned  in  1711. 
In  1712  a  second  building,  of  brick,  was  raised.  That  was 
burned  in  1747,  and  the  third,  erected  in  1748,  is  substan- 
tially the  same  that  stands  to-day.  The  arches  upon  which 
it  formerly  stood  have  given  way  for  solid  walls,  but  other- 
wise it  looks  much  as  it  did  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution. 

The  First  Church.  The  first  building  built  as  a  place  for 
worship  was  near  the  market-place.  Brazier's  Building,  on 
State  Street,  marks  its  site. 


NOTES. 


157 


King's  Chapel.  "The  establishment  of  the  Church  of 
England  in  Boston,"  says  Mr.  Samuel  Adams  Drake,  in  his 
Old  Landmarks  of  Boston,  "  was  attended  with  great  oppo- 
sition. ...  In  1646  a  petition  praying  for  the  privilege  of 
Episcopal  worship,  addressed  to  the  General  Court  at 
Boston,  caused  the  petitioners  to  be  fined  for  seditious 
expressions,  and  the  seizure  of  their  papers.  ...  In  1686 
.  .  .  the  first  Episcopal  services  were  held  in  the  old  Town 
House.  .  .  .  The  town,  however,  continued  to  refuse  the 
use  of  any  of  the  meeting-houses." 

When  Sir  Edmund  Andros  came,  he  demanded  the  use 
of  the  Old  South  Meeting-house.  On  the  22d  of  March, 
Sewall  tells  us,  in  his  diary,  Andros  inspected  the  three 
meeting-houses.  On  the  23d  he  sent  for  the  keys  of  the 
Old  South,  and,  though  Mr.  Sewall  and  others  remonstrated 
with  him,  declaring  that  the  meeting-house  was  theirs,  and 
that  they  could  not  consent  to  part  with  it  for  such  a  use, 
the  keys  were  obtained  and  services  were  held  on  Friday, 
the  25th.  Andros  and  the  council,  after  trying  in  vain  to 
buy  part  of  Cotton  Hill  for  the  site  of  a  new  church,  took 
possession  of  a  corner  of  what  had  been  Mr.  Isaac  Johnson's 
land,  used  since  Mr.  Johnson's  death  as  a  burying-ground. 

Here  the  first  King's  Chapel  was  built  in  the  year  1688, 
a  wooden  structure  with  a  square  tower.  In  1753  new  walls 
of  stone  were  laid  around  the  old  church,  and  the  present 
building  arose.  It  was  called  King's  Chapel,  or,  in  the  reign 
of  Queen  Anne,  Queen's  Chappell ;  during  the  Revolution 
its  name  was  changed  to  Stone  Chapel,  but  the  original 
name  is  restored. 

The  Province  House,  which  stood  somewhat  back  from 


158  NOTES. 

Washington  Street,  was  built  in  1679,  an(^  was  owned  by 
Peter  Sergeant.  It  was  of  brick,  with  a  flight  of  sandstone 
steps  leading  up  to  the  portico.  The  royal  governors  after- 
ward occupied  the  house.  Bernard  lived  there  at  times ;  so 

did  Gage. 

PAGE  14. 

Christ  Church  was  built  six  years  before  the  brick  building 
of  the  Old  South  was  erected  ;  that  is,  in  1723.  The  chime 
of  bells  hanging  in  its  steeple  was  cast  and  consecrated  in 
England.  Each  bell  bears  an  inscription.  As  given  in  Old 
Landmarks  of  Boston  the  inscriptions  are  as  follows  :  — 

FIRST  BELL. 

"  This  peal  of  eight  bells  is  the  gift  of  a  number  of  generous  persons 
to  Christ  Church,  N.  E.  Anno  1744.  A.  R." 

SECOND  BELL. 

"  This  church  was  founded  in  the  year  1 723.  Timothy  Cutler,  D.D., 
the  first  Rector.  A.  R.  1723." 

FOURTH  BELL. 
"  God  preserve  the  Church  of  England.     A.  R.  1744." 

FIFTH  BELL. 

"  William  Shirley,  Esq.,  Governor  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  New 
England.  Anno  1744." 

SIXTH  BELL. 

"  The  subscription  for  these  bells  was  begun  by  John  Hammock  and 
Robert  Temple,  Church  Wardens,  Anno  1743;  completed  by  Robert 
Jenkins  and  John  Gould,  Church  Wardens,  Anno  1744." 

SEVENTH  BELL. 

"  Since  generosity  has  opened  our  mouths,  our  tongues  shall  ring 
aloud  in  praise.  1774." 

EIGHTH  BELL. 
"Abel  Rudhall,  of  Gloucester,  cast  us  all.     Anno  1774." 


NOTES. 


PAGE  15. 


159 


John  Winthrop,  Governor  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay 
Colony,  was  born  in  Groton,  England,  whence  he  came  to 
America  in  1630.  He,  with  his  Puritan  company,  founded 
Boston,  which  received  its  name  September  17,  1630.  He 
died  on  the  26th  of  March,  1649,  and  was  buried  in  the 
King's  Chapel  burying-ground. 

Francis  Bernard  was  born  in  England.  He  studied  at 
Oxford,  and  was  first  appointed  governor  of  New  Jersey ; 
after  two  years  of  service  in  that  colony  he  was  transferred 
to  Massachusetts.  "  He  loved  literature  and  science,  could 
write  elegies  in  Latin  and  Greek,  used  to  say  that  he  could 
repeat  the  whole  of  Shakespeare  ;  and  had  gifts  of  conversa- 
tion which  charmed  the  social  circle.  .  .  .  He  was  a  good 
hater  of  republican  institutions,  .  .  .  and  deemed  it  a  marvel 
that  Charles  II.  had  not  made  a  clean  sweep  of  the  little 
New  England  republics,  .  .  .  and  had  not  supplied  their 
place  with  more  aristocratic  governments.  .  .  .  He  thought 
that  though  people  might  bluster  a  little  when  such  a  reform 
was  proposed,  yet  they  never  would  resist  by  force ;  and  if 
they  did,  a  demonstration  of  British  power,  such  as  the 
presence  of  the  king's  troops  in  a  few  coast  towns,  and  the 
occupation  of  a  few  harbors  by  the  royal  navy,  would  soon 
settle  the  country."  [Frothingham's  Life  of  Warren,  p.  29.] 
On  the  3ist  of  July,  1769,  Bernard  sailed  to  England,  to 
report  to  the  king  the  state  of  the  province,  leaving  Hutchin- 
son,  the  lieutenant-governor,  to  administer  affairs  in  his 
absence.  He  never  returned,  but  died  in  1779. 


1 6O  NOTES. 

PAGE  16. 

George  III.  was  born  in  1742,  came  to  the  throne  in 
1760,  and  died  in  1820,  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight  years, 
having  been  for  ten  years  blind,  deaf,  and  insane.  [Mont- 
gomery's Leading  Facts  of  English  History^ 

PAGE  19. 

Taxation  by  Parliament.  For  this  question  and  that  of 
the  king's  prerogative  and  the  new  problem  presented  by 
the  new  state  of  things  brought  about  by  America's  strength 
and  self-dependence,  see  Green's  History  of  the  English 
People,  Vol.  IV.,  Book  IX.,  Chap.  I. 

PAGE  20. 

Representation  in  Parliament.  "  If  we  are  not  repre- 
sented," said  the  Massachusetts  legislature,  "we  are  slaves." 
Yet  there  is  no  doubt  that  most  of  the  patriots  preferred 
local  self-government  to  representation  in  Parliament. 

THE  STAMP  ACT. 

[See  Green,  and  the  Memorial  History  of  Boston.  Hutch- 
inson,  in  his  History  of  Massachusetts,  is  extremely  interest- 
ing here.] 

PAGE  21. 

Stamped  Papers.  "  A  ream  of  common  blank  bail  bonds 
had  usually  been  sold  for  ^15  ;  a  ream  of  stamped  bonds 
cost  ;£ioo."  [Temple's  History  of  Framingham.~] 

Benjamin  Franklin.     [See  the  Autobiography^ 


NOTES.  1 6 1 

PAGE  22. 

The  Assembly  replied,  etc.  [Hutchinson,  History  of 
Massachusetts,  Vol.  III.,  p.  465.] 

PAGE  25. 

Sons  of  Liberty.  Barre",  in  one  of  his  eloquent  speeches 
in  defence  of  America,  alluded  to  the  colonists  as  "  Sons  of 
Liberty."  The  phrase  was  caught  up  and  used  as  the  name 
for  an  organization  of  patriots.  This  organization  had  its 
centre  in  New  York,  and  branches  in  all  the  other  colonies. 
The  men  forming  the  nucleus  for  the  Boston  Sons  of  Liberty 
had  formerly  called  themselves  the  "  Union  Club."  After 
the  change  of  name  each  member  of  the  Boston  organization 
wore,  on  public  occasions,  a  medal,  "  on  one  side  of  which 
was  the  figure  of  a  stalwart  arm,  grasping  in  its  hand  a  pole, 
surmounted  with  a  cap  of  liberty,  and  surrounded  by  the 
words  '  Sons  of  Liberty.'  On  the  reverse  was  a  representa- 
tion of  Liberty  Tree."  \_Tea  Leaves,  p.  Ixix.] 

The  cut  shows  one  of  the  stamps. 

THOMAS  HUTCHINSON. 

[See  Diary  and  Letters  of  Thomas  Hutchinson,  by  P.  O. 
Hutchinson.]  Frothingham  says  :  "  Thomas  Hutchinson, 
descended  from  one  of  the  most  respected  families  of 
New  England,  and  the  son  of  an  honored  Boston  merchant, 
was  now  [in  1 769]  fifty-seven  years  old.  .  .  .'  He  was 
distinguished  by  '  an  irreproachable  private  character, 
pleasing  manners,  common-sense  view  of  things ;  and 
politics  rather  adroit  than  high-toned  secured  him  a  run 
of  popular  favor.  .  .  .  He  was,  and  had  been  for  years,  the 
master  spirit  of  the  Tory  party."  \Life  of  Warren,  p.  107.] 


1 62  NOTES. 

On  the  ist  of  June,  1774,  Hutchinson  sailed  for  London, 
to  lay  before  the  king  the  affairs  of  the  province.  On  arriv- 
ing he  was  immediately  summoned  to  King  George's  pres- 
ence. The  king  asked  him  many  questions  concerning 
America,  and,  among  other  remarks  about  the  patriots,  ob- 
served, "  I  see  they  threatened  to  pitch  and  feather  you  !  " 

"Tar  and  feather,  may  it  please  your  Majesty,"  replied 
Hutchinson ;  "  but  I  don't  remember  that  I  was  ever  threat- 
ened by  it."  It  would  have  been  well  for  George  the  Third 
if  he  could  have  been  as  easily  set  right  in  other  mistaken 
ideas  as  to  his  provinces.  Hutchinson  "  died  in  England  on 
the  3d  of  June,  1 780,  suddenly,  as  he  was  stepping  into  his 
carriage."  [Frothingham,  same,  p.  502.] 

PAGE  29. 
The  first  general  congress  met  at  New  York,  Oct.  7, 

1765- 

Liberty  Tree  was  one  of  several  large  elms  near  the 
corner  of  Essex  and  Washington  Streets.  A  stone  tablet, 
set  in  the  wall  of  a  building  opposite  the  foot  of  Boylston 
Street,  marks  the  site  where  the  tree  once  stood. 

PAGE  30. 

Andrew  Oliver  was  Hutchinson's  brother-in-law.  He 
was  to  have  been  the  stamp  distributer.  When  Hutchinson 
became  governor,  Oliver  was  made  lieutenant-governor. 

PAGE  34. 

"His  eldest  daughter," etc.    [See  Hutchinson's  account.] 
"  The  doors,"  etc.     [Hutchinson's  History,  Vol.  III.,  p. 
124.] 


NOTES.  163 

PAGE  35. 

The  stamped  paper.  That  which  was  sent  to  Boston  was 
stored  at  Castle  Island. 

SAMUEL  ADAMS. 
I.    THE  FATHER  OF  THE  REVOLUTION. 

Samuel  Adams  was  born  on  Sunday,  Sept.  16,  1722, 
in  the  Purchase  Street  house,  which  was  built  by  his  father. 
The  Adams  land  extended  from  Purchase  Street  to  low  water 
mark,  and  fronted  the  harbor.  "  On  the  roof  was  an  observ- 
atory and  a  railing  with  steps  leading  up  from  the  interior." 

Adams  graduated  from  Harvard  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  in 
1 740.  "  At  that  time  position  in  the  classes  was  determined 
by  the  wealth  and  standing  of  families.  In  a  class  of  twenty- 
two  young  Adams  stood  fifth."  [Wells's  Life  of  Samuel 
Adams.~\ 

"  He  studied  law  for  a  time,  but  quitted  study  to  enter  a 
counting-house,  and  finally  entered  business  with  his  father. 
They  lost  money ;  indeed,  Adams  was  never  a  good  business 
man."  [Same.]  He  died  in  1803. 

PAGE  39. 

The  Father  of  the  Revolution.  He  was  called  not  only 
the  Father  of  the  Revolution,  but  the  last  of  the  Puritans. 
Tudor  says  of  him  :  "  Every  day  and  every  hour  was  employed 
in  some  contribution  towards  the  main  design ;  if  not  in 
action,  in  writing ;  if  not  with  the  pen,  in  conversation ;  if 
not  in  talking,  in  meditation."  Otis,  he  adds,  used  to  write 
first  draughts  of  political  papers  and  "  hand  them  over  to 
Sam  to  quievecue  them."  \_Life  of  Otis.~] 


1 64  NOTES. 

PAGE  40. 

"  Only  think  of  it,"  etc.  [Wells's  Life  of  Samuel  Adams, 
Vol.  L,  p.  167.] 

PAGE  43. 

The  non-importation  agreement.  [See  the  Memorial 
History  of  Boston^ 

II.    THE  BOSTON  MASSACRE. 

For  the  details  as  given  here,  see  Frothingham's  Life  of 
Warren,  Wells's  Life  of  Samuel  Adams,  and  the  Memorial 
History  of  Boston. 

PAGE  46. 

Henry  Knox,  afterward  General  Knox. 

PAGE  47. 

Paul  Revere  —  says  Mr.  Winsor,  in  a  foot-note  on  p.  40 
of  the  Memorial  History  —  took  the  occasion  of  the  first 
anniversary  of  the  massacre,  in  1771,  to  rouse  the  sensibili- 
ties of  the  crowd  by  giving  illuminated  pictures  of  the  event, 
with  allegorical  accompaniments,  at  the  windows  of  his  house 
in  North  Square. 

PAGE  48. 

Crispus  Attucks.  An  account  of  Crispus  Attucks  is  given 
in  Livermore's  Research  on  Negroes  as  Slaves,  Mass.  Hist. 
Soc.  Proc.  1862^  p.  173. 

PAGE  49. 

Preston  and  his  men  were  tried  with  scrupulous  fairness. 
"  As  a  result  of  the  trial,  Preston  was  acquitted,  six  of  the 


NOTES.  1 65 

soldiers  were  brought  in  '  not  guilty,'  and  two  were  found 
guilty  of  manslaughter,  branded  in  the  hand  in  open  court, 
and  then  discharged."  [Memorial  History,  Vol.  III.,  p.  38.] 

III.     SAM  ADAMS'S  REGIMENTS. 
PAGE  50. 

The  meeting  was  held  in  Faneuil  Hall  in  the  morning,  but 
in  the  afternoon  adjourned  to  the  Old  South. 

Colonel  Dalrymple  and  Colonel  Carr  commanded  the 
regiments. 

PAGE  54. 

"  Sam  Adams's  regiments."  It  was  Lord  North  who  first 
spoke  of  the  troops  sent  to  Castle  Island  as  "  Sam  Adams's 
two  regiments." 

THE  BOSTON  TEA-PARTY. 

[See  the  Memorial  History  of  Boston,  Vol.  III.,  p.  44, 
and  Tea  Leaves,  by  F.  S.  Drake.] 

PAGE  55. 
New  Jersey  Tea,  —  Ceanothus  Americanus. 

PAGE  56. 
An  English  penny  is  worth  two  of  our  cents. 

PAGE  57. 

Griffin's  Wharf  was  opposite  the  foot  of  Hutchinson 
Street,  now  Pearl  Street.  It  has  since  been  replaced  by 
Liverpool  Wharf. 


1 66  NOTES. 

Twenty  days  after  her  arrival  in  port,  a  vessel  was  liable 
to  seizure  for  the  non-payment  of  duties  on  articles  imported 
in  her. 

PAGE  61. 

"We  placed  a  sentry,"  etc.     [Tea  Leaves,  p.  Ixxi.] 

PACE  62. 

"  The  captain  of  the  brig,"  etc.  [John  Andrews,  in  Tea 
Leaves,  p.  Ixix.] 

"  In  the  space  of  two  or  three  hours,"  etc.  [Massachu- 
setts Gazette,  quoted  in  Tea  Leaves,  p.  Ixviii.] 

GENERAL  GAGE. 
[See  the  Memorial  History  of  JBoston.~\ 

I.    THE  PORT  BILL  AND  REGULATION  ACT. 
PAGE  67. 

General  Gage.  "  Thomas  Gage,"  says  Frothingham, 
"arrived  at  Boston  May  13,  1774,  as  captain-general  and 
governor  of  Massachusetts.  He  was  not  a  stranger  in  the 
colonies.  He  had  exhibited  gallantry  in  Braddock's  defeat, 
and  aided  in  carrying  the  ill-fated  general  from  the  field. 
He  had  married  in  one  of  the  most  respected  families  in 
New  York,  and  had  partaken  of  the  hospitalities  of  the 
people  of  Boston.  His  manners  were  pleasing.  Hence  he 
entered  upon  his  public  duties  with  a  large  measure  of  popu- 
larity. But  he  took  a  narrow  view  of  men  and  things  about 
him.  .  .  .  General  Gage  proved,  as  a  civilian  and  a  soldier, 
unfit  for  his  position."  \_Life  of  Warren,  p.  5.] 


NOTES.  167 

The  Port  Bill.  "  A  measure  for  suspending  the  trade  and 
closing  the  harbor  of  Boston  during  the  king's  pleasure,  and 
enforcing  the  act  by  the  joint  operations  of  an  army  and  a 
fleet."  [Rev.  Edward  G.  Porter  in  the  Memorial  History 
of  Boston,  Vol.  III.,  p.  51.] 

Marblehead  was  declared  to  be  the  port  of  entry,  Salem 
the  capital.  The  people  of  these  towns,  however,  stood  by 
Boston  bravely ;  the  merchants  offered  Boston  men  the  use 
of  their  wharves,  and  the  townsfolk  sent  provisions  by  land, 
a  distance  of  twenty-eight  miles.  [Same.] 

PAGE  68. 

The  Regulation  Acts.     [See  the  Memorial  History^ 
The  Suffolk  Resolves  were  written  by  Joseph  Warren,  in 
a  house  still  standing  in  the  village  of  Milton  Lower  Mills. 

PAGE  69. 

The  seizure  of  the  powder  belonging  to  the  province 
warned  the  Bostonians  that  they  must  look  to  their  other 
possessions.  Tudor,  in  his  Life  of  Otis,  tells  us  that  — 

In  November,  1 766,  four  guns  were  ordered  bought  by  the 
general  court  of  Boston.  Two  of  them  were  kept  in  a  gun- 
house  opposite  the  West  Street  Mall.  Major  Paddock  intended 
to  hand  the  guns  over  to  the  British,  but  when  his  men  went 
to  fetch  them  they  were  gone.  The  men  searched  for  them. 
They  went  into  the  school-house  which  was  near  to  hunt  for 
them.  There  were  the  boys  at  their  books,  there  was  the 
master  Holbrook,  with  one  foot,  which  was  lame,  resting  on 
a  large  box  under  his  desk.  In  that  box,  as  the  boys  very 
well  knew,  were  the  cannon.  The  master  knew  it,  too.  He 


1 68  NOTES. 

begged  the  soldiers  to  excuse  him  if  he  remained  seated ;  they 
assured  him  that  he  must  not  think  of  rising.  The  guns 
were  not  to  be  seen,  and  the  soldiers  took  themselves  off. 
For  a  fortnight  longer  that  big  box  was  undisturbed ;  then 
one  evening  the  two  brass  cannon  were  taken  out  and 
trundled  on  a  wheelbarrow  to  Whitten's  blacksmith's  shop 
at  the  South  End,  where  they  were  hidden  under  a  pile  of 
coal.  There  they  lay  for  some  time,  but  finally  they  were 
again  removed  by  night  and  carried  to  the  American  camp. 

II.  GAGE'S  Scours  IN  WORCESTER  AND  CONCORD. 
PAGE  70. 

De  Berniere's  account,  on  which  this  chapter  is  based,  is 
in  Vol.  IV.,  2d  Series,  of  the  Mass.  Hist.  Coll. 

In  the  same  volume  are  Gage's  instructions  to  Brown  and 
De  Berniere.  They  were  as  follows  : 

"BOSTON,  February  22,  1775. 
"  GENTLEMEN  : 

"  You  will  go  through  the  counties  of  Suffolk  and 

Worcester,  taking  a  sketch  of  the  country  as  you  pass;   .  .  . 

"  The  rivers  also  to  be  sketched  out,  remarking  their  breadth  and 
depth,  ...  the  fords,  if  any,  and  the  nature  of  their  bottoms.  .  .  . 

"  You  will  remark  the  heights  you  meet  with,  whether  the  ascents 
are  difficult  or  easy;  .  .  . 

"  The  nature  of  the  country  to  be  particularly  noticed,  whether  in- 
closed or  open;  .  .  .  and  whether  the  country  admits  of  making  roads 
for  troops  on  the  right  or  left  of  the  main  road.  .  .  . 

"You  will  notice  the  situation  of  the  towns  and  villages,  their 
churches  and  churchyards,  whether  they  are  advantageous  spots  to 
take  post  in.  ... 

"  If  any  places  strike  you  as  proper  for  encampments  .  .  .  you  will 
remark  them  particularly,  and  give  reasons  for  your  opinions. 


NOTES.  1 69 

"  It  would  be  useful  if  you  could  inform  yourselves  of  the  necessaries 
their  different  counties  could  supply,  such  as  provisions,  forage,  straw, 
etc.,  the  number  of  cattle,  horses,  etc.,  in  the  several  townships. 
"  I  am,  Gentlemen,  your  most  obedient,  humble  servant, 

"THOMAS  GAGE. 
"To  CAPT.  BROWN,  52d  Regiment, 
and  ENSIGN  D'BERNIERE,  loth  Regiment. 

"  (Copy)." 

JOSEPH  WARREN. 
See  Frothingham's  Life  of  Warren. 

PAGE  85. 

Joseph  Warren  was  born  in  Roxbury,  on  June  n,  1741. 
At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  entered  Harvard  College.  He 
studied  medicine  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  James  Lloyd. 
Extremely  winning  in  person  and  admirable  in  character,  he 
was  greatly  beloved.  Samuel  Adams  became  one  of  his 
warmest  friends.  He  devoted  himself  to  the  patriot  cause. 

He  saw  the  firing  of  the  soldiers  upon  his  fellow-townsmen, 
on  the  5th  of  March,  1770,  and  gave  an  oration  in  1772, 
commemorating  the  death  of  those  who  fell. 

He  took  part  in  the  work  of  the  committee  of  correspond- 
ence, and  was  present  at  the  patriotic  meetings  at  the  time  of 
the  destruction  of  the  tea,  and  when  preparations  for  war 
began  he  determined  to  seek  active  service  in  the  field. 

THE  BATTLE  OF  LEXINGTON. 

I.     PAUL  REVERE'S  RIDE. 
See    Memorial  History    of  Boston,   Vol.  III.,    p.    101, 


1 70  NOTES. 

Revere's  letter,  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  Vol.  V.,  of  the  ist  Series, 
Frothingham's  Siege  of  Boston,  and  Hudson's  History  of 
Lexington. 

PAGE  92. 

Warren's  house.  Warren  at  that  time  lived  on  Hanover 
Street,  where  the  American  House  now  stands.  [Memorial 
History,  Vol.  III.,  p.  59.] 

PAGE  95. 

Revere's  horse  was  furnished  by  Deacon  Larkin. 

Longfellow's  stirring  poem,  The  Midnight  Ride  of  Paul 
Revere,  represents  Revere  as  waiting  on  the  Charlestown 
side,  and  receiving  his  first  intimation  of  the  route  of  the 
British  from  the  Boston  signals.  The  "  poet's  license  "  will 
be  observed  in  other  portions  of  the  poem. 

John  Hancock's  aunt,  Mrs.  Hancock,  and  his  lady-love, 
Dorothy  Quincy,  were  at  Mr.  Clark's  house  at  the  time. 
Madame  Dorothy,  in  giving  an  account  of  the  night  [see  the 
Magazine  of  American  History  for  1888],  said  that  it  was  not 
until  break  of  day  that  Mr.  Hancock  could  be  persuaded  that 
it  was  improper  to  expose  himself;  but  that  then,  overcome 
by  the  entreaties  of  his  friends,  he,  with  Mr.  Adams,  went 
over  to  Woburn.  "  The  ladies  remained  and  saw  the  battle 
commence.  Mrs.  Scott  (Dorothy  Hancock)  says  [Maga- 
zine of  American  History]  the  British  fired  first,  she  is  sure. 
.  .  .  One  of  the  first  British  bullets  whizzed  by  old  Mrs. 
Hancock's  head,  as  she  was  looking  out  of  the  door,  and 
struck  the  barn  ;  she  cried  out,  '  What  is  that  ?  '  They  told 
her  it  was  a  bullet,  and  she  must  take  care  of  herself.  .  .  . 
After  the  British  passed  on  towards  Concord,  the  ladies  re- 


NOTES. 


ceived  a  letter  from  Mr.  Hancock,  informing  them  where  he 
and  Mr.  Adams  were  ;  wishing  them  to  get  into  the  carriage 
and  come  over,  and  bring  the  fine  salmon  that  they  had  had 
sent  them  to  dinner.  This  they  carried  over  in  the  car- 
riage, and  had  got  it  nicely  cooked,  and  were  just  sitting 
down  to  eat  it,  when  in  came  a  man  from  Lexington,  whose 
house  was  upon  the  main  road,  and  who  cleared  out  (leav- 
ing his  wife  and  family  at  home)  as  soon  as  he  saw  the  Brit- 
ish bayonets  glistening,  as  they  descended  the  hills  on  their 
return  from  Concord.  Half  frightened  to  death,  he  ex- 
claimed, '  The  British  are  coming  !  My  wife's  in  etarnity 
now  !  '  Mr.  Hancock  and  Mr.  Adams,  supposing  the  British 
troops  were  at  hand,  went  into  the  swamp,  and  staid  until 
the  alarm  was  over." 

II.  THE  MARCH  OF  THE  BRITISH. 

PAGE  101. 

Messrs.  Gerry,  Orne,  and  Lee  were  in  their  beds,  in  the 
tavern  at  Menotomy,  now  Arlington,  when  the  alarm  was 
given.  They  were  but  half  dressed  when  the  British  came 
in  sight.  The  landlord  guided  them  to  a  back  door,  and 
they  escaped  into  a  field,  where  they  lay  concealed  in  the 
stubble,  while  a  squad  of  soldiers  searched  the  house. 
[Frothingham's  History  of  the  Siege  of  Boston,  p.  60.] 

III.  THE  SKIRMISH  AT  LEXINGTON. 

PAGE  103. 

Captain  Parker.  Captain  John  Parker,  who  commanded 
the  Lexington  men,  was  the  grandfather  of  Theodore  Parker. 


172  NOTES. 

He  was  ill  on  the  day  of  the  battle,  but  "  did  his  duty  from 
2  A.M.  till  12  at  night." 

"Don't  fire  unless  fired  upon,"  etc.  [Weiss's  Life  of 
Theodore  Parker,  Vol.  I.,  p.  n.] 

Samuel  Adams,  in  Woburn,  having  heard  the  guns  at 
Lexington,  exclaimed,  "  This  is  a  glorious  day  !  "  "  It  is, 
indeed,"  answered  one  of  his  companions,  thinking  that  he 
referred  to  the  brightness  of  the  early  morning.  "  I  mean," 
said  Samuel  Adams,  "  that  it  is  a  glorious  day  for  America  !  " 

PAGE  105. 

Killed  at  Lexington:  Jonas  Parker,  who  had  said  he 
would  never  run  from  the  British,  and  who,  even  after  being 
wounded,  discharged  his  gun  and  remained  to  meet  his 
death  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet ;  Robert  Monroe,  who  had 
been  the  standard-bearer  of  his  company  at  the  capture  of 
Louisburg ;  Samuel  Hadley,  John  Brown,  both  killed  after 
they  had  left  the  common ;  Jonathan  Harrington,  who  was 
shot,  and  dragged  himself  to  the  door,  only  to  die  before  he 
reached  the  threshold ;  Caleb  Harrington,  Isaac  Muzzy,  and 
Asahel  Porter.  [Frothingham's  Siege  of  Boston,  p.  80.] 

IV.    THE  CONCORD  FIGHT. 
PAGE  105. 

A  large  portion  of  the  stores  had  been  removed  before  the 
1 8th  of  April;  and,  after  receiving  Dr.  Prescott's  alarm,  the 
inhabitants  of  Concord  spent  the  remainder  of  the  night  in 
secreting  as  much  as  possible  of  those  that  were  left. 


NOTES.  173 

PAGE  106. 
EXPLANATION  OF  THE  MAP. 

1.  Lexington  Road. 

2.  Hill  where  the  liberty  pole  stood. 

3.  Centre  of  the  town  and  main  body  of  the  British. 

4.  Road  to  the  South  Bridge. 

5.  Road  to  the  North  Bridge  and  to  Colonel  Barrett's,  two  miles  from 

the  centre  of  the  town. 

6.  High  grounds  where  the  militia  assembled. 

7.  Road  along  which  they  marched  to  dislodge  the  British. 

8.  Spot  where  Davis  and  Hosmer  fell. 

9.  Rev.  Mr.  Emerson's  house. 

10.  Bridges  and  roads  made  in  1 793,  when  the  old  roads,  with  dotted 
lines,  were  discontinued.   [Frothingham's  Siege  of  Boston,  p.  70.] 

V.  THE  RETREAT  OF  THE  BRITISH. 
PAGE  112. 

Percy's  brigade  had  met  with  a  long  delay.  It  finally  fell 
in  with  Smith's  men  about  half  a  mile  below  the  Lexington 
meeting-house.  [Frothingham's  Siege  of  Boston,  p.  76.] 

The  American  loss  for  the  day  was  49  killed,  39  wounded, 
5  missing.  The  British  loss  was  :  73  killed,  1 74  wounded, 
26  missing.  [Frothingham's  Siege  of  Boston.'] 

THE  BATTLE  OF  BUNKER  HILL. 

See  Frothingham's  Siege  of  Boston. 

After  the  battle  of  Lexington,  the  following  circular  letter, 
addressed  to  the  towns  of  Massachusetts,  was,  among  others, 
issued.  This  is  in  Warren's  handwriting. 


174 


NOTES. 


"  GENTLEMEN  :  The  barbarous  murders  committed  on  our  innocent 
brethren,  on  Wednesday,  the  1 9th  instant,  have  made  it  absolutely  nec- 
essary that  we  immediately  raise  an  army  to  defend  our  wives  and  our 
children  from  the  butchering  hands  of  an  inhuman  soldiery,  who  .  .  . 
will,  without  the  least  doubt,  take  the  first  opportunity  in  their  power 
to  ravage  this  devoted  country  with  fire  and  sword.  We  conjure  you, 
therefore,  by  all  that  is  dear,  by  all  that  is  sacred,  that  you  give  all 
assistance  possible  in  forming  an  army.  Our  all  is  at  stake.  .  .  .  Every 
moment  is  infinitely  precious.  An  hour  lost  may  deluge  your  country 
in  blood.  .  .  .  We  beg  and  entreat,  as  you  will  answer  to  your  coun- 
try, to  your  own  consciences,  and,  above  all,  as  you  will  answer  to  God 
himself,  that  you  will  hasten  and  encourage  by  all  possible  means  the 
collection  of  men  to  form  the  army,  and  send  them  forward  to  head- 
quarters at  Cambridge,  with  that  expedition  which  the  vast  importance 
and  instant  urgency  of  the  affair  demand."  [Frothingham's  Life  of 
Warren,  p.  466.] 

PAGE  115. 

General  Putnam  was  born  in  Salem,  Massachusetts,  on 
the  yth  of  January,  1718,  but  the  greater  part  of  his  life  was 
spent  in  Pomfret,  Connecticut.  He  distinguished  himself 
in  the  French  War,  and  was  also  prominent  among  the  Con- 
necticut Sons  of  Liberty.  He  died  May  19,  1790. 

PAGE  116. 

General  Heath  was  younger,  having  been  born  in  1737, 
in  Roxbury. 

General  Pomeroy  was  from  Northampton,  and  had  been 
a  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  French  War. 

General  Ward  was  born  in  1727.  Bancroft  says  that  he 
"  had  the  virtues  of  a  magistrate  rather  than  a  soldier." 

PAGE  119. 

"Almost  thou  persuadest  me,"  etc.  [Frothingham,  p. 
5°S-3 


NOTES. 


PAGE  120. 


175 


Colonel  Prescott  was  born  in  1726.  He  was  "six  feet  in 
height,  of  strong  and  intelligent  features,  with  blue  eyes  and 
brown  hair.  .  .  .  He  was  .  .  .  plain  but  courteous  in  his 
manners  ;  of  a  limited  education,  but  fond  of  reading ;  never 
in  a  hurry,  and  cool  and  self-possessed  in  danger."  [Froth- 
ingham's  Siege  of  Boston^ 

PAGE  125. 

"Between  twelve  and  one  o'clock,  a  horseman  rode  furi- 
ously into  Cambridge  with  the  report  that '  the  Regulars  had 
landed  at  Charlestown.'  ...  It  was  a  very  hot  summer's 
day,  with  a  burning  sun.  Warren  was  suffering  from  a  ner- 
vous headache ;  he  had  been  occupied  through  the  night 
with  public  business,  and  threw  himself  on  a  bed ;  but 
after  the  alarm  was  given  he  rose,  and,  saying  that  his  head- 
ache was  gone,  started  for  the  scene  of  action.  .  .  .  He 
came  within  range  of  the  British  batteries  at  the  low,  flat 
ground  (Charlestown  Neck)  .  .  . ;  and  the  firing,  at  the 
time  he  passed,  between  two  and  three  o'clock,  must  have 
been  severe."  [Frothingham,  p.  513.] 

Three  days  before  the  battle  Warren  was  made  a  major- 
general. 

"  Dulce  est  decorum  est,"  etc.  [Frothingham's  Life  of 
Warren. ,] 

PAGE  128. 

The  order,  "  Wait  till  you  see  the  whites  of  their  eyes," 
was  not  original  with  the  Provincials.  It  had  been  given  in 
Frederick's  wars.  On  May  22,  1745,  Prince  Charles,  cutting 


1 76  NOTES. 

through  the  Austrian  army,  said  to  his  men,  "  Silent,  till  you 
see  the  whites  of  their  eyes."  Twelve  years  after,  at  the 
battle  of  Prague,  it  was  used  again,  "  No  firing  till  you  see 
the  whites  of  their  eyes."  \_Boston  Memorial  History '.] 

PAGE  130. 

"  The  death  of  our  truly  amiable  and  worthy  friend,  Dr. 
Warren,"  wrote  Samuel  Adams  to  his  wife,  "  is  greatly  afflict- 
ing. The  language  of  friendship  is,  How  shall  we  resign 
him!"  [Quoted  in  Frothingham,  p.  521.]  And  Abigail 
Adams  wrote  :  "  We  want  him  in  the  senate  ;  we  want  him 
in  his  profession  ;  we  want  him  in  the  field.  We  mourn  for 
the  citizen,  the  senator,  the  physician,  and  the  warrior." 
[Same.] 

Warren  was  buried  on  the  field.  His  remains  were, 
however,  removed,  and  they  are  now  in  Forest  Hills. 

The  whole  number  of  Americans  in  the  battle  did  not  ex- 
ceed 1500;  the  British  numbered  between  2000  and  3000. 
[Bancroft,  Vol.  IV.,  Chap.  XXXIX.] 

The  American  loss  was  :  150  killed,  2  70  wounded,  30  taken 
prisoners.  [Boston  Memorial  History '.] 

The  British  loss  was  :  224  killed,  830  wounded.    [Same.] 

WASHINGTON. 

See  Irving's  Life  of  Washington,  Recollections  of  Wash- 
ington, by  Washington  Parke  Custis,  Sparks 's  Washington, 
etc. 

PAGE  138. 

The  Washington  Elm  still  stands  in  Cambridge. 


NOTES. 


177 


PAGE  141. 

"Their  half -Indian  equipments,"  etc.  [Irving's  Life  of 
Washington,  Chap.  XXIV.] 

PAGE  143. 
"I  have  made  forty-two,"  etc.     [Irving,  Chap.  XXV.] 

THE  EVACUATION  OF  BOSTON. 

See  Frothingham's  Siege  of  Boston  and  the  Memorial 
History  of  Boston. 

PAGE  145. 

Putnam's  present  to  Mrs.  Gage.  [See  Recollections  of  Life 
in  the  Revolutionary  Period,  by  H.  E.  Scudder.]  General 
Gage's  wife  was  an  American.  It  was  thought  that  the  wings 
with  which  Gage's  secrets  seemed  to  be  furnished  were  of 
her  providing. 

PAGE  146. 

Burgoyne's  play  was  entitled  The  Blockade  of  Boston. 

PAGE  152. 

A  detachment  of  Putnam's  men  took  possession  of  Boston 
on  the  1 7th.  The  main  body  marched  in  on  the  2Oth. 
"The  small-pox  prevailed  in  some  parts  of  the  town,  and 
Washington  was  obliged  to  adopt  stringent  measures  to  pre- 
serve the  health  of  the  troops."  [Frothingham.] 

The  British  fleet  lingered  for  ten  days  in  Nantasket  Road. 
"  During  this  period  the  enemy  burnt  the  block-house  and 
barracks  and  demolished  the  fortifications  on  Castle  Wil- 
liam." [Same.] 


1 78  NOTES. 

When  the  greater  part  of  the  fleet  finally  sailed  for  Hali- 
fax, a  few  vessels  continued  for  two  months  to  lie  off 
Nantasket.  In  May  James  Mugford,  an  American  captain, 
captured  a  British  transport  ship,  the  Hope,  sent  over  from 
England  with  fresh  military  stores  for  the  British.  He  got 
her  cargo  safely  to  Boston,  but  the  British  from  the  men-of- 
war  at  Nantasket  put  out  in  thirteen  boats,  two  nights  later, 
and  attacked  Captain  Mugford's  vessel  and  another  as  they , 
lay  near  Point  Shirley,  where  Mugford  had  caught  aground. 
"  The  crews  of  both  fought  their  assailants  with  the  greatest 
intrepidity.  Captain  Mugford  sunk  two  of  the  boats.  But 
while  fighting  bravely  he  received  a  mortal  wound.  He  still 
continued  to  animate  his  men,  exclaiming,  *  Do  not  give  up 
the  ship  !  You  will  beat  them  off ! '  In  a  few  minutes  he 
died.  His  men  beat  off  the  enemy's  boats.  No  other 
American  was  killed."  [Frothingham's  Siege  of  Boston, 

P-  3i3-] 

On  the  1 4th  of  June  some  American  troops,  despatched 
for  the  purpose,  drove  the  last  remnant  of  the  British  fleet 
out  of  the  harbor  by  means  of  cannon  planted  on  Long 
Island. 


INDEX. 


Adams,  John,  132,  135. 

Samuel,  39-54,  85,  96,  100,  116, 

163,  172. 

American  Camp,  139-144. 
Andros,  Sir  Edmund,  4. 
Army,  American,  115,  138. 
Attucks,  Crispus,  48,  164. 

Beacon  Hill,  8. 
Bernard,  Governor,  15- 
Berniere,  De,  70-83,  107. 
Boston  in  1760,  9,  155. 

Evacuation  of,  145-154. 

Harbor,  67. 

Massacre,  44-49,  84,  164. 

Neck,  13. 

—  Port  Bill,  67,  68,  167. 

—  Tea-Party,  55-66,  165. 
Breed's  Hill,  119-131. 
British,  March  of,  101-103. 

Retreat  of,  111-114. 

Brown,  Captain,  70-83. 

Bunker  Hill,  Battle  of,  115-131,  173- 

176. 

Burgoyne,  John,  116,  129,  146. 
Buttrick,  John,  108. 

Calderwell,  James,  48. 
Castle  Island,  150. 
Charlestown,  115-131,  152. 
Christ  Church,  14. 
Clinton,  General,  116,  123,  129. 


Colonies,  English  in  America,  1-8. 
Committee  of  Correspondence,  56. 
Concord  Fight,  The,  105,  in,  172. 
Congress,  New  York,  35,  162. 

Provincial,  69. 

Second  Continental,  133. 

Copp's  Hill,  14. 
Cotton  Hill,  9. 
Craigie  House,  143. 

Dalrymple,  Colonel,  50. 
Dartmouth,  The,  57. 
Davis,  Isaac,  108. 
Dawes,  William,  97. 
Dorchester  Heights,  148-151. 

English  Colonies  in  America,  The,  i. 
Evacuation  of  Boston,  The,  145-154, 
177,  178. 

Faneuil  Hall,  146. 

First  Church,  The,  10,  155. 

Fort  Hill,  13. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  21. 

Gage,  Thomas,  67,  83,  116,  123,  145, 

166. 
Gage's    Scouts   in  Worcester    and 

Concord,  70-83,  168. 
George  III.,  16,  19,  20. 
Gray,  Samuel,  48. 
Griffin's  Wharf,  13,  57,  165. 

179 


i8o 


INDEX. 


Hancock,  John,  85,  91,  96,  116,  132, 

135- 

Heath,  William,  116,  174. 
Hosmer,  Abner,  no. 
Howe,  General,  116,  123,  145,  149- 

152. 
Hutchinson,  Thomas,  26-38,  49-54, 

67. 

King's  Chapel,  10,  157,  161,  162. 
Knox,  Henry,  46,  48,  142,  147,  164. 

Lexington,  Battle  of,  91-114,  169. 
Liberty  Tree,  29,  36,  37,  146,  162. 

March  of  the  British,  101,  171. 
Massachusetts    a     Commonwealth, 

154- 

Minute-Men,  70. 
Monroe,  172. 
Muzzy,  172. 

Non-Importation  Agreement,  43. 

Nook's  Hill,  oo. 

North,  Lord,  56. 

North  Bridge,  107. 

North,  Old,  or  Christ  Church,  14. 

O'Connor,  Captain,  65. 

Old  South  Church,  10,  50,  58,  85-90, 

146,  156. 

Old  State  House,  10,  44-49,  50-54. 
Oliver,  Andrew,  13,  36,  162. 
Otis,  James,  8. 

Parker,  John,  99,  103-105. 
Percy,  Lord,  112,  150. 
Pigot,  General,  123,  124,  126. 
Pitcairn,  Major,  102,  105,  130. 
Pomeroy,  Seth,  116,  174. 
Preston,  Captain,  47,  164. 


Prescott,  William,  120-137,  174. 

Dr.,  97. 

Provincial  Congress,  69. 
Province  House,  10, 157. 
Putnam,  Israel,    115,  119,  125,   128, 
174.  177. 

Quincy,  Dorothy,  97. 

Regiments,  Sam  Adams's,  50, 165. 
Regulation  Acts ,  68. 
Retreat  of  the  British,  no. 
Revere's  Ride,  91,  169,  170. 
Rotch,  Mr.,  58. 
Rowe,  John,  58. 

Schoolhouse,  10. 

Skirmish  at  Lexington,  103,  171. 

Smith,  Colonel,  101. 

Stamp  Act,  21. 

Repealed,  37. 

Stark,  John,  115,  125. 
Sons  of  Liberty,  25,  29,  161. 
Suffolk  Resolves,  68,  167. 

Taxation  by  Parliament,  20. 
Tea-Party,  Boston,  55-66. 
Thomas,  General,  148. 
Town  House,  10. 

Ward,  Artemas,  116,  174. 

Warren,  Joseph,  84-90,  92,  112,  113, 

119,  125,  126,  169,  175,  176. 
Washington  Elm,  138,  176. 
Washington,  George,  132-144,  147- 

154- 

West  Hill,  9. 
Winthrop,  John,  10. 
Winthrop's  House,  9. 
Writs  of  Assistance,  8. 


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